Natural Wine Catastrophe

In contrast to my second-last post (Visits, Tastings, Wine Fairs and Other Jollys), which was all about the good times, this one is about the bad things which have happened to me recently. 

Specifically, it’s about how my wines have turned into vinegar this year! Just a few weeks ago I had yet another lot go bad on me (this time about 2000 liters of Garnacha from Sierra de Gredos), which I poured down the drain.

Needless to say I've been thinking a lot about the possible causes of this series of acetic events. Why so many instances this year (4 different lots) when I've been making wine in the same way for 12 years, and only one lot ever turned into vinegar in all that time (back in 2008 I think)?

Well, I won't bore you with all my thoughts and theories and ramblings over the past few weeks ... I'll just come straight out with what I think has happened:

- (1) The major difference between what I'm doing now, and what I was doing back in the 'old days' is that nowadays I'm making a lot more wine, and a lot more different types of wines. I used to just make about two or three thousand bottles of Airén plus 2 barricas of Tempranillo crianza. But now I'm making about 12,000 bottles of at least 10 different wines plus assorted mini-experiments. This must be a significant factor somehow. I obviously can't just carry on doing the same things as I was doing before

- (2) I don't have so much time to look after each wine and do what has to be done at the right time as I did before, due to a number of different circumstances

- (3) I still don't have airtight pneumatic lids for all my tanks. Maybe if there is a source of contamination somewhere in the bodega, it's easier for the vinegar bacteria ("acetobacter") to get into the tanks if they're not sealed properly?

The fact is that all my containers and assorted equipment and machinery is not the result of careful planning based on expected needs. It is in fact the complete opposite! Everything I own was bought incrementally year after year whenever I happened to have some spare cash available. Thus some years I bought a stainless steel tank, including hermetic seal, and some years I could only afford the tank but not the lid.

- (4) I don’t have enough stainless steel tanks (with or without hermetic lids); I have to use open top plastic containers, open top oak barrels (which I opened up myself), and ceramic amphorae, which are difficult to close off in an airtight manner. So I will have to think about that little problem too.

One thousand liters going down the drain

So, conclusions:

1. I'm going to invest in airtight lids for all my tanks, even though it will be hideously expensive. Though perhaps not as expensive as pouring thousands of litres of vinegary wine down the drain!

2. I'm going to become even cleaner and more hygienic than usual. Not sure how, but I'll think of what can be done in that area, over the course of the year.

C'est la vie. And the bright side?

Well, I can't think of anything positive about this at the moment. I'm really angry and upset and depressed :(   But I'm sure I'll get over it!  Any helpful suggestions would be most welcome.

Actually, there is one thing that is helping to cheer me up, even though it’s got nothing to do with the lessons to be learned from the above. It’s that I’ve just received an order for a mixed pallet of wines (mostly Garnacha) from ... wait for it ... from France! Amazing! I still can’t quite believe it! Coals to Newcastle and Grenache to France, what? :)

The importer is Thierry Puzelat, a well-known winemaker based in the Loire, who has also started to distribute other wines. I can’t wait to find out where my wines end up, hopefully some interesting wine bars in Paris :)

I strongly suspect this will be my last post this year, so on that happy note ... Merry Christmas, everyone, and I hope you all drink some interesting wines over the holidays :)