Can I drink this?
March 10, 2015 5:06 PM   Subscribe

How long will this wine that we blended last without sulfites? The winery guy and the Internet have different answers.

Some friends and I did a "bottle blending day camp" where we made a blend of various different kinds of barrel reds. Fun!

We bottled the blend afterwards. One bottle didn't get any SO2 put in it. The guy at the winery said that it wouldn't last and we should drink it within the week. However, Googling seems to indicate that sulfite-free wines can last from 6 to 18 months before being opened.

Who's right? Is the 6-18 months answer based processing that commercial wine goes through that wouldn't apply to our blend? I'm kinda busy this week and would prefer if we could get together to drink the bottle later...but not if it's going to go bad.
posted by phoenixy to Food & Drink (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
No added sulfites means the wine is going to be a lot more sensitive to changes. If I had a bottle, I'd keep it for a while out of curiosity. Maybe it turns more complex, maybe it turns into ass. Who knows? I like "natural" wines because interesting things can happen with minimal sulfites.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:04 PM on March 10, 2015


The wine isn't going bad in one week. No problems.

And the reason for different answers is that no one can guess. It's all dependent on how many germs are inside the bottle (that is, organisms that are not the yeast you like), and a variety of other factors. High temperature can change the flavor, usually for the worse (decreasing those nice flavors).
posted by IAmBroom at 6:22 PM on March 10, 2015


> Is the 6-18 months answer based processing that commercial wine goes through that wouldn't apply to our blend?

Yeah, commercially available sulphite-free wine has almost certainly been pasteurised.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 6:28 PM on March 10, 2015


Not remotely true about sulphur free wines being pasteurized.

That said keep it stored below 55 or so and drink in a year at most. A properly constructed sulphur free wine bottled properly with a low pH and or some residual CO2 in the bottle will last years. What you've got less so. Just keep it cool. Of course you always run the risk it has a bacteria issue. You'll know.
posted by JPD at 6:50 PM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


Well, there were probably some sulfites from before (they are naturally occurring in smaller concentrations) but the thing is you mixed in a bunch of oxygen during the blending. Were the bottles purged with CO2 or other gas before you filled them? Maybe it's OK but I would drink it sooner rather than later.
posted by wnissen at 9:28 PM on March 10, 2015


> Not remotely true about sulphur free wines being pasteurized.

I guess it's possible my information is out of date, region-specific or just wrong, but when I managed a wine shop in Melbourne ten years ago that stocked about two dozen 'preservative-free' or low-sulphite wines, I was advised by our buyer (who'd met with the winemakers) that most, if not all, of the 'preservative-free' wines had received some kind of heat treatment—either pasteurisation, pasteurisation of the fruit, or heat treatment just short of full pasteurisation. I was told this practice was often used by makers of 'no added sulphite' wines, though rarely mentioned on the label or marketing materials.

So I'd personally be inclined to follow your wine-maker's advice.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 2:45 PM on March 15, 2015


Yeah. There is like an entire movement of natural European wines the don't add sulfur. Though the wines are def less stable. Like can't really survive shipping in some cases.
posted by JPD at 7:58 AM on March 16, 2015


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