The Auswine Forum

I have a wine that opens with severe brettanomyces and although with considerable shaking and decanting it reduces, it doesn't disappear. The wine is lovely underneath but my darling wife can't get past the brett. All of these wines have it (Willow Bridge Shiraz 2001) and it's not limited to just a bottle here or there from the carton.
Does anyone have a suggestion to get rid of the brett?

Cheers

Luke

Yes
1. Sell them.
2. Reverse Osmosis and filtration machine should set you back $150K

What smell is it?
The reason I ask is if it is reduced with air it could be reduction. Brett usually blooms as it warms with air. You could also have a double whammy of Brett and reduction and the reductive odours are mellowing with air and the Brett stays there.

Red Smurf wrote:Yes
1. Sell them.
2. Reverse Osmosis and filtration machine should set you back $150K

I was told by a wine steward once, but I've never tried it myself, if you can get your hands on an ozone generator or aerate with ozone... theory has it that may assist.

Is that the ozone purifiers you can get for your water system?
Funny I'm responding to how to reduce Brett topic. I would usually want to know how to increase Brett in a wine.

Not sure Red Smurf. I was told that wineries trying to get rid of it needed to sterilise using O3. At the same time I understood it to mean that "irrigating" wine with O3 might help.

Throw the bottle and contents out.... that'll get rid of Brett.

Lots of different brett smells, some much worse than others. If it's metallic or 'band aid' brett, I'd chuck it and free up some cellar space.

If it's funky slightly feral animale brett, buy some good Chateauneuf-dP (which is likely too clean - boo), blend the wines and enjoy!

Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

JamieBahrain wrote:Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

God, that'd make u cry.
I'll ditch them or maybe use them for cooking (unless the brett stuffs that up as well).
Thank u for your replies team......
Luke

Rory wrote:Throw the bottle and contents out.... that'll get rid of Brett.

^^ +1

Luke W wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

God, that'd make u cry.
I'll ditch them or maybe use them for cooking (unless the brett stuffs that up as well).
Thank u for your replies team......
Luke

Hi Luke

Henschke replaced all my 98's to their credit though without admission of faults.

Luke W wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

God, that'd make u cry.
I'll ditch them or maybe use them for cooking (unless the brett stuffs that up as well).
Thank u for your replies team......
Luke

Luke,

I was always told if you won't drink the wine, don't use it for cooking.

Cheers
Ian

ticklenow1 wrote:

Luke W wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

God, that'd make u cry.
I'll ditch them or maybe use them for cooking (unless the brett stuffs that up as well).
Thank u for your replies team......
Luke

Luke,

I was always told if you won't drink the wine, don't use it for cooking.

Cheers
Ian

Sensible advice there Ian.

Perhaps ask the winery if they will do anything for you. You never know your luck there Luke.

I'll give them away to someone with more patience than me - it'd be a tough ask to expect Willow Bridge to replace 16 yr old shiraz that I paid bugger all for on GOL.
LOL
I just thought there may have been a way that u could eliminate brett similarly to putting unaffected corks into a corked wine and reducing TCA.

Luke W wrote:I just thought there may have been a way that u could eliminate brett similarly to putting unaffected corks into a corked wine and reducing TCA.

Does this work??? I don't see how this would work to be honest...

Polymer wrote:

Luke W wrote:I just thought there may have been a way that u could eliminate brett similarly to putting unaffected corks into a corked wine and reducing TCA.

Does this work??? I don't see how this would work to be honest...

Don't think this works. Once TCA is in the wine, a clean cork is not going to miraculously suck it out!

Doesn't always work but it has reduced TCA to the point where the wine is drinkable - I've tried it a few times (put 10 corks into a decanter with the affected wine - but not a TCA cork) and then been able to drink the wine many hours later.

Try it next time!

Haha just saw this, I would have just said sell them to Red Smurf or Dingozegan myself. They can't get enough of the stuff

Rather than a cork, there is a proven way to remove TCA with a certain type of plastic bag / wrap. A quick online check comes back with Polyethylene as the specific compound of plastic required, and one of the UK guys reckoned leaving it 2 days in the fridge (the bag in contact with the wine) was pretty effective.... however, the wines remain scalped (depending on the level of taint) and depending on how much oxygen gets in, 2 days in the fridge can leave many wines noticeably duller than on opening.

Whether all that effort is worth it is a another matter - many of us would still be frustrated at the scalping of the wine.

Ian S wrote:Rather than a cork, there is a proven way to remove TCA with a certain type of plastic bag / wrap. A quick online check comes back with Polyethylene as the specific compound of plastic required, and one of the UK guys reckoned leaving it 2 days in the fridge (the bag in contact with the wine) was pretty effective.... however, the wines remain scalped (depending on the level of taint) and depending on how much oxygen gets in, 2 days in the fridge can leave many wines noticeably duller than on opening.

Whether all that effort is worth it is a another matter - many of us would still be frustrated at the scalping of the wine.

You can use Glad wrap which is PVC or Saran wrap (PVdC). I have used a ~10 x 10 cm sheet scrunched up in the glass and it has removed much of the TCA taint in a couple of minutes. After using this technique you are left with, what Ian has mentioned above, a pretty lifeless wine.

redstuff wrote:

Ian S wrote:however, the wines remain scalped (depending on the level of taint) and depending on how much oxygen gets in, 2 days in the fridge can leave many wines noticeably duller than on opening.

You can use Glad wrap which is PVC or Saran wrap (PVdC). I have used a ~10 x 10 cm sheet scrunched up in the glass and it has removed much of the TCA taint in a couple of minutes. After using this technique you are left with, what Ian has mentioned above, a pretty lifeless wine.

I gave up on it as a technique - it does remove the TCA, but the stripped wine you're left with just isn't worth the bother.

maybs wrote:Haha just saw this, I would have just said sell them to Red Smurf or Dingozegan myself. They can't get enough of the stuff

Yep, I'd take them

dingozegan wrote:

redstuff wrote:You can use Glad wrap which is PVC or Saran wrap (PVdC). I have used a ~10 x 10 cm sheet scrunched up in the glass and it has removed much of the TCA taint in a couple of minutes. After using this technique you are left with, what Ian has mentioned above, a pretty lifeless wine.

I gave up on it as a technique - it does remove the TCA, but the stripped wine you're left with just isn't worth the bother.

Agreed, I've tried this too and I found that it does strip some TCA, but also strips some of the flavour.

For me the amount of stripped TCA wasn't worth the loss of character for the rest of the wine, so down the sink it went. As someone here says in their signature - life is too short to drink bad wine - and I'd rather just open another bottle.

JamieBahrain wrote:

Luke W wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

God, that'd make u cry.
I'll ditch them or maybe use them for cooking (unless the brett stuffs that up as well).
Thank u for your replies team......
Luke

Hi Luke

Henschke replaced all my 98's to their credit though without admission of faults.

They will be getting a call about my 98 HOGs

I find the whole topic offensive and somewhat alarming.

Regards
Brett

Croquet King wrote:I find the whole topic offensive and somewhat alarming.

Regards
Brett

GET HIM!!!!!!!

Oh sorry, just got caught up in the heat of the moment

Rory wrote:Throw the bottle and contents out.... that'll get rid of Brett.

HA !, was thinking the same thing....

JamieBahrain wrote:Serving the wine a bit cooler helps. When you need ice blocks, it's time to give up! As I did with 98 Henschkes.

Henschke have just replaced all my 98 mount eds with current vintage. Without any hesitation. And fast to do so too.. very happy with there service.

And dam that 2012 is Good..

Hunter wrote:And dam that 2012 is Good..

Is there a 2013 Mt Ed?

It will be released this year.
Looking forward to the 12' HOG