9 Comments
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Mari's avatar

yes yes yes! Nodding to it all. <3

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mujō's avatar

this is usually a result of not using sulfur

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Andrea J.'s avatar

Yes lack of sulphur can lead to VA (one of a couple of causes)-- however I have had some very beautiful and balanced zero zero wines. So I really think it’s the responsibility of the wine maker to assess and make that call (or do it correctly)

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Bobby Frank's avatar

The most important time to use sulphur when making wine is at bottling. At least 10-20ppm up to 50 ppm. If the wine is not being consumed quite soon, anything can happen during storage, shipping or bottling. Yes, it is possible to make quality wine with fully zero sulphur, but it takes meticulous, extremely clean and lucky winemaking.

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Jason Wilson's avatar

Preach! Great point though. If we’re all going to insist on wine being so “subjective” I guess eventually people are going subjectively hate certain things like VA LOL

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Brandi Peterson's avatar

I’ve really been feeling the same way lately. It’s like you read my mind. I’ve recently poured out 2 wines for this exact reason. I love natural wines but can’t understand why they all need to be funky. Why cant the goal to be to produce natural wines in a traditional style. Check out Alfred Eames. Doing great stuff unfined and unfiltered.

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Andrea J.'s avatar

A majority of the bottles I’ve had recently have made me feel like this! It makes the good ones feel extra special though 😆

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Ian Criticos's avatar

taste is subjective, but a flaw isn’t. VA is a flaw and if it’s ever DOMINANT it shouldn’t be considered a small amount. Wine should be enjoyed, and it’s tough to enjoy any wine when it’s dominated by a fault. VA, Brett, EA, TCA - you name it.

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The Nectary's avatar

Ugh yes! I wish people stopped normalising these faulty wines. Mouse also, who wants a wine that tastes like a hamster cage?! There are so many good natural wines out there, like you said that taste like “conventional” wine, but it’s so hard to find them when people are pushing battery juice 🥲

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