Smelling nasty Wines

As part of our WJCP training, and also a requirement for Certified Wine Educator, the student is expected to be able to recognize common wine faults. So I have been smelling stinky wines for the last week. And will do so again this week. And possibly again next month. (Despite popular misconception, the life of a wine student is not just all partying, .... though it isn't bad either)

WJCP advised us, that identifying wine faults is an area where candidates lose points on their first year exam and they advised us to purchase fault kits from either Vinquiry or from Le Nez du Vin. When we are tested in December, they will use the Vinquiry fault set to make up the test wines. So I bought a set.

This is not an inexpensive exercise, the kits retail for about $100 and students on the east coast found that special shipping restrictions would add another (unexpected!) $20-$40 to their costs.

You get 10 vials of chemicals, enough to add each vial to 50 ML (2 ounces or so) of wine. Or, you can use 1/2 vial with 25 ML of and run 2 sets of tests which is what I did, once with a neutral white wine (Franzia Chardonnay) and once with a neutral red (Franzia Merlot). I did these several days apart.

I filled my 11 glasses with 25 ML of wine, one of them was my standard so I could always refer back to the base wine and also use it to help clear out my nose after smelling the "off" wines. (Note: smelling your skin or armpit can also reset your sense of smell as long as you didn't just come from working out at the gym.) Then I added 1/2 vial of the defect, I put the remaining fault vial back in its box and back into the refrigerator for storage. I capped the wine glasses with a little plastic lid, left them on the kitchen counter and then smelled them several times over the next 3 days. A couple of the wines faded in smell over the 3 days but were still recognizable. Most of the wines held their aromas. Some stayed god awful stinky, smelled up the kitchen and tested the limits of my wife's love for me.

Here is what Vinquiry says about the Defects.
Kit Contains 10 Wine Defects for Aroma Evaluation Only:
(Do NOT drink these wines, they are harmful if swallowed.)

DEFECT AROMA DESCRIPTORS
1) Cork Taint Musty, Moldy, Pond Water, Basement, Dank Cellar, Wet Paper, Wet Cardboardy
2) Brettanomyces 1 Barnyard, Horse, Wet Dog, Band-Aid, Leather, Smoky, Tar
3) Oxidation Bruised Apples, Sherry, Nutty
4) VA – Acetic Acid Vinegar, Pungent
5) VA – Ethyl Acetate Fingernail Polish Remover
6) Lactic Taint (Buttery) Butter, Buttered Popcorn
7) Methoxypyrazine Green Bell Pepper, Fresh Leaves, Vegetative
8) Brettanomyces 2 Sweaty Saddle, Cheese, Rancid
9) Microbial Muddy, Earthy, Musty, Beets, Turnip
10) Hydrogen Sulfide Rotten Eggs


Here are my experiences: first with the Chardonnay and then with the Merlot

1 TCA : a little more "moldy old book" smell with white. Still there but a little better integrated with red.
2 Brett1 : still horse sweat, but *seems* to integrate better on the red wine.
3 Oxydative / Aldehyde: slightly less sherry like, moves a little towards overripe apple in the red
4 Acetic: NC - no change: vinegar in both base wines.
5 Ethyl Acetate: moved from nail polish remover to airplane glue (same but different, slightly more pungent)
6 Lactic / Butter: NC - no change: smells like movie popcorn butter.
7 Methoxy Pyrazine: I still don't get bell pepper but have decided that "dead leaves" is what I do get
8 Brett2: This one still seems like rancid cottage cheese but moves closer to #9
9 Microbial : still smells like beets - white and red.
10 Sulfur: still nasty, nasty, nasty. This one does fade over time of 2-3 days.

So. In my opinion, while I saw small changes in some of the wines in moving from white base wine to the red base wine, I don't believe it really matters whether you use red or white wine - the fault aromas are pretty consistent.

I also think that any amount of Brett1, Lactic or Sulfur is easy to get. Oxydative and Ethyl Acetate stand out but fade over time ( 2-3 days ). I also expect to have some problems with the methoxy pyrazine on the test. I can recognize it as different from the standard base wine, but it doesn't come across as a distinctive smell for me.

I also had a "brilliant" idea. After creating my 2nd set of glasses, I re-filled my fault vials with the associated faulted red wine from my glasses, capped them, and put them back in the refrigerator. Hopefully killing 2 birds with one stone ... getting every last drop of fault out of the vial, and giving me something to smell again in 1-2 months. ( Oh boy, really looking forwards to horse sweat and rotten eggs in September ).Vinquiry suggests that if you keep the vials cool and they will store for up to 6 months. I am not sure if this works once they are mixed with wine, but we will find out.

You could make up some of these smells at home. Vinegar for Acetic, Finger Nail Polish Remover for Ethyl Acetate, A burnt match for sulfur dioxide. Some classic Rhone wines will definitely have Brett aromas. And the statistic is that from 3-7% of wines will have cork taint, so you may have come across it before but not known it.

A great resource for training yourself on various sensory aspects of wines is "The University Wine Course" by Marian Baldy. In my opinion this is THE classic book for learning how to taste wine. It also has an extensive section on how to prepare wine faults, components, and just standards for common smells. You can often find it on Amazon or ABE Books at a cheap price. Currently used but good condition for less than $10.

john