Joe,

I've added a lot of SO2 to batches of high-pH wine, and also added
high amounts to test samples to see at what levels I found the SO2
noticeable in the wine. I've never noticed anything that I would call
a burnt match smell.

However, your description doesn't sound far off of what I described as
"burnt rubber" in one of my red wines this year. This seems to have
been caused by disulfides, which started as a huge H2S (rotten egg
smell) problem that I didn't treat early enough. I got rid of the H2S
with copper sulfate, but not before some of it reacted to form
disulfides. I'm pretty sure my problem is indeed disulfides because I
treated it last night with ascorbic acid and by this morning the burnt
rubber taste and aroma were already greatly diminished.

It could also be that the problem is H2S and not disulfide. If you
search the newsgroup archives for H2S and copper, you'll see lots of
posts about that topic. If you search for disulfide and Margalit,
you'll find a post with an excerpt from a book that describes how to
test a few samples with CuSO4 solution and ascorbic acide to determine
whether the problem is H2S, mercaptans, disulfides, a combination, or
none of the above.

Good Luck!

Richard

Joe Giller > wrote in message >...
> In both of my Chardonnays from last year. Is it related to the sulfur
> used on the vineyard itself? Is there something I can do to get it out
> of the wine? My buddy had the same problem with his chard from the same
> vineyard. We picked on the same day and followed the same practices, etc.
>
> Ideas?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Joe