Wine gone bad, anyone ever experience this firsthand from a wine store, winery, or restaurant?

I have been drinking wine for around 6 years now and experienced it for the first time. I was with some girlfriends celebrating my birthday and we decided to go to a local winery in the area we were visiting. We bought 3 bottles of wine to share among 4 of us out on their patio overlooking the vineyard. My sister took out the cork that the winery employee uncorked for us, and smelt the cork. She poured a little in her glass, smelt then tasted it. I came back to the table and she handed it to me telling me to smell and taste it as it does not smell good. So I swirled the wine in the wine glass, smelled the wine which smelt of bad/overripe grapes and the taste had a sour taste to it. I told her that the wine definitely went bad and I’ll take it back to the winery employee who tasted it and agreed that it was a bad bottle. She gave me a brand new bottle of the same wine and had me smell and taste it before leaving her counter. It was a really fruity, full bodied red blend wine that ended up being one of my favorites.

Winemaking is a tricky thing to do and very temperamental. During the winemaking process, if bacteria is present it can completely change the outcome of the wine (taste and smell). These can range from adhesive bandage smell to dirty socks smell to nail polish remover smell… EW GROSS!! Not only can this happen during the winemaking process but also during the storage/supply chain distribution by being exposed to heat or exposed to too much oxygen which will give the wine that deep color heading to brownish hint because it is over oxidized. You will also notice this happening to wine if you don’t consume it soon after opening the bottle (typically 1-3 days but no more than a week as the wine tastes completely different by then).

Should this happen to you, know that you can always bring it back to the wine store, winery, waiter at restaurant (bring receipt with you) but they will smell and taste it to make sure that the wine has indeed gone bad before replacing it for you free of charge (at least if they are knowledgeable about wines and know there can be bad batches or bottles). I tend to write the date I open a bottle of wine on the bottle label so I know how long I have to drink it but let me be honest and say I usually don’t have a problem finishing the bottle in 1-3 days.

Have you ever experienced a bad wine? Comment below 🙂