(LG1111) wrote in message >...
> Should we try yeast energizer or aerate and wait to
> >see if that works?
> >
> >Some suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> >PS Reds (Merlot and Zin) smell fantastic. Pressed last night, and
> >started secondary. Zin - Dark Dark red with a very fruity aroma. Ohh boy.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> I'm not sure if my suggestions arre valid or not, and I'll be interested in
> what others say. Last year I had the same experience with batches of petite
> sirah, syrah, and zinfandel. I attributed it to poor nutients in the original
> grapes because otherwise I did exactly what I had been doing with dozens of
> batches of wine.
>
> The first thing I did was I agitated the must to try to drive off the SO2. I
> then added extra nutients (the Wine Lab has a product called superfood, which I
> now add in small amounts to all of my grapes that I'm able to buy here on the
> east coast.
>
> In each of the batches the smell persisted but to a lesser degree. Finally,
> when the secondary was completed, I treated with minute (really minute) amounts
> of CuSO4. This worked beautifully with the petite sirah and the syrah, but the
> zin was still smelly. At that point, I figured that the zin was a lost cause
> and into the crapper it went.
>
> What do others think? Do you routinely pre-treat with nutients?
>
> Lee

Lee, I know that zinfandel and syrah are two varieties that are
notoriously short on nitrogen and so many winemakers do routinely add
nutrient. I wouldn't be surprised if petite sirah is in the same
category but I don't know. It's also a good idea to make sure you get
plenty of air into the wine when you're punching down the cap.

- Mark W.

Hi,
Wen I first started making wine, I had a few batches that had that smell.
After asking a few questions on this NG and reading articles, I went and
bought some DAP ( diammonium sulfate). I now put that in EVERY batch of
wine I make, and I am very pleased with the results. I havn't had any
sulphur problem in any wine since.