h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I drink a lot of . Very occasionally, I open a bottle that has a smell that makes me want to vomit. It is a sort of strong sweaty sock smell that I find overpowering and repulsive. My wife acknowledges it, but doesn't seem to mind so much.

It doesn't seem to be corked, and occasionally I have had the misfortune to sample the same wine several times with the same results . It always seems to be Australian Shiraz.

So - what is the chemical? Is there a term to describe it? Has anyone else experienced this? Is it just me?

Could be sulphides. These are formed by yeasts in some wines, and are naturally-occurring. Some producers also add additional sulphides (not to be confused with sulphites, which are OK) as a preservative.

They're generally unpleasant chemicals - hydrogen sulphide, which smells of rotten eggs, is a notable example.

Personally I wouldn't drink it just as I wouldn't drink a corked bottle of wine. You could try taking it back to where you bought it for a refund.

RF

I think it's just you - at least, personally speaking none of my socks smell anything like any of my wine.

I don't drink much Australian wine to be fair - it's expensive here.

sprout

Me also thinks its probably sulphides/sulpher compound thinggies I've never noticed it myself on French, Italian, Spanish or any of the other European Reds I drink But then again I do tend to rather try avoid Australian wines for the same reason I avoid Calafornian ones

Is it due to the travelling times? Whipping about? Possibly...

I just drink what's given to me mainly European Reds, mostly Italian. Never found any to to smell horrifically!

After several weeks of Tuesday night wine tasting at my local pub we all came to the conclusion that South Africa makes the best red wines.
Jury's still out on the white although the opinion seems to be that French isn't as good as it used to be.

An update - I left the wine with the horrible smell in the kitchen, thinking I'd use for gravy or something. But I didn't have any spare stoppers, so had to leave it open. Amazingly, after three days, it tastes OK - the nasty smell has vanished completely. Finished it off last night and it doesn't seem to have done any harm.

Anyone ever heard of a red that had to be left to breathe for three days?

Read the heading "Sulphuric" on this page...seems to explain what happened to your wine.

http://www.tesco.com/winestore/howto/howtoSpot.htm

RF

Yes, that's it exactly

Cheers

I had a friend who used to make his own wine (some of it successful - all of it alcoholic ) His not so successful efforts we used as a base for punch and managed to make a mess of ourselves on more than one occasion

The sulphur smell is sodium metabisulphate - it's a substance used to sterilise the bottles and such and can remain in the wine after bottling. It's harmless and will evaporate if the wine is left to breathe. This is true for reds and whites.

I've always found that some reds (especially cheaper ones) will improve slightly if left to breathe for a while - though some wouldn't get better if you gave them mouth to mouth