Kathy spent some time in the wine room and came up with a bottle of Petite Sirah. We haven’t had a Petite Sirah in quite awhile and I was anxious to try it. As usual, I pour a bit in my glass and try it before pouring the wine for dinner. The aroma sent up a warning flag. I tasted the wine and another warning flag was raised. Perhaps my tasting was off. So I asked Kathy what she thought. She too thought the wine was faulted.

It didn’t take long to identify the fault. The wine had geranium taint. The aroma and taste reminded me of scented geranium leaves. I buy scented geraniums every year and enjoy the aroma when I brush against the leaves. I also like to use scented geraniums in flower bouquet for the house. However, in a wine, geraniums is not a desired trait. My first introduction to geranium taint came as a result of the very first wine I made in 2008. There was a slight geranium taint to the wine. I noticed it and didn’t care for its influence on the wine. That was just a slight geranium taint. The bottle I opened on New Year’s Day, I poured down the drain. The entire kitchen smells of scented geraniums.

Geranium taint is caused by the addition of sorbate to the wine. The first wine I made was from a kit and there was a packet of sorbate to add to the wine. It was suppose to help stop any yeast that may be alive from fermenting in the bottle. However, since I fermented the wine to dry there wasn’t enough sugar left to make fermentation in the bottle a problem. The addition of the sorbate did create a problem.

Hopefully this is a one and only wine to be dumped this year.

Cheers,
Terry