+1. Chlorine is a contributor to the production of TCA.
Ask BV winery what their opinion is of chlorine use in the winery.
I recently read “A vineyard in Napa” about the Shafer winery and one of the stories involved cleaning tanks with bleach. Made me cringe.
NO ONE who knows any better ever EVER uses bleach in a winery. I even question the use of iodine.
NEVER EVER.
At one of my first winery jobs they were using bleach. I am glad I know how to deal with it as the last resort option. They had been using it for years with no issues. We ordered a ozone machine very shortly there after.
I was thinking based on my own experiences that maybe some coopers’ toasting regimens result in a higher level of cellobiose which can in turn be metabolized by Brett, therefore making the barrels from specific cooperages more susceptible than others… Any thoughts on this?
Just heard about a brewery that loves the dirty barrels from wineries. They make the best farmhouse ales, no brett additions necessary.
I drink a lot of French wines (Chinons, villages-level Burgs, Northern Rhones, etc) that exhibit various levels of Brettanomyces, and find that, once the Brett blows off with a little aeration, these wines are invariably more pleasing (broader, more complex, earthier) to me, than those that exhibit no Brett. And contrary to your experience, I find the same is true with the few Bretty California I’ve been able to acquire.
My favorite QPR plays of the last 5 years are the 2007 Arger-Martucci Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa), and the 2010 Jean Fournier Cuvee St. Urbain Marsannay. Both at the $25 level, and both spectacular; both exhibit some degree of Brettanomyces, but at levels that don’t require aeration. Both these outdrink, to my palate, wines from those regions costing many times more. I’ll admit, I have an adventurous palate; I like organ meats, Haggis, habanero peppers, blood sausage, raw venison, and lots of other things that most people don’t eat. But you winemakers who have a bit of Brett in your barrels, don’t panic; there is a market for your product. You just have to market to people like me.
I too like to eat weird things. And I too occasionally (occasionally) like a wine with a little bit of Brett in it. But the problem with Brett, and the reason we winemakers fret over it, is that it is almost impossible to “control” once you have a wine with it. Sure, there are things you can do, like steam/ozone barrels, and yes you can filter the wine. But Brett acts differently in every wine, and you can never predict what kind of Bretty flavors you are going to get. And if you have sloppy cellar habits (or unbeknownst to you, one of your cellar staff does), you can risk infesting all of your barrels over time. And you can end up having all of your wines taste the same. Like Brett. And have you ever had a white wine with Brett? I have. It doesn’t happen very often, but I have tasted a Chardonnay with Brett, and it wasn’t pleasant.
You also have no idea what the Brett will do over time to the wine in the bottle.
I think you’re confusing sulfur dioxide and brett. SO2 can be quite stinky with the same sort of fecal notes associated with brett. SO2 “blows off” with oxygen exposure, Brett “blooms” with oxygen exposure. In many wines it may be clear which the culprit is, but in others it’s buried amongst other more prominent aromas. Then, one rely on a little time for the truth to be revealed - does it go away or get worse? You must’ve had wines you thought were bretty that got much more bretty over time, right?
I doubt I’m confusing SO2 with Brett. My palate is better than that. I sit on a tasting panel for an analytical chemist who does work for the brewing and distilling industries, and can generally distinguish between oxides of Sulfur, mercaptans, phenols, and so on. I actually find SO2 flavors to be very unpleasant, and it took me decades to become sufficiently tolerant of SO2 to be able to drink wine.
I was also a home-brewer for years, and had enough wet chemistry, soil microbiology, and lab experience before I started, to have a good grasp of sterile technique, and of how to control potential infesting pathogens in the brewing process. I never once had a contaminated batch. In fact, almost 20 years on, I still have a few bottles of my old brews, and occasionally open one…and they’re still damn good.
Over a period of about 20 years I made a deep and broad investigation into the world’s great craft beers, sampling literally thousands, and found that, at the end of it all, the ones I prefer are spontaneously fermented Belgian exotics that have Brettanomyces in their microbial assemblage. In fact those beers (lambic, geuze, Flemish sour red ales, etc) are the only beers I will drink now.
While I was always fanatically observant of sterility and cleanliness in my own brewing, I have great respect and admiration for those brewers (and vintners) who work with a light touch, but skillfully, to allow nature to intrude…i.e., Guigal, Chapoutier, etc. That is where art trumps science.
Edited to add: I do not find that Brett “blooms” with air, itself, but other volatile aromas (esters, organic acids, etc) that might mask Brett can themselves deplete to the point, with swirling, that horseblanket flavors become more noticeable, and lingering. And I love this. I absolutely love a horseblankety Burgundy…the aforementioned Fournier Marsannay being a good example.
That’s a good point, Ken, and I suspect that spontaneous fermentation aids in developing that equilibrium. Someone ought to write an essay comparing the human immunological and inflammatory responses, after inoculation and/or antibiotic treatment of humans, to the behavior of fermentables after pitching pure-strain yeast in an ultra-sterile fermenter, vs. spontaneously fermented wine/beer made in wooden vats (Linda, does this appeal to you?)
Don’t think me a crackpot for this suggestion. I think about this sort of thing, in a broad sense, quite often. As a child, I was quite healthy and allergy-free until the age of 7, when I suddenly developed strong allergies to just about everything. Recently, after reading new theories on how immunization can have deleterious effects on human gut flora, immune responses, and inflammation, I realized that my allergies started after I began receiving childhood immunizations. Perhaps coincidental, perhaps not.
We tend to attempt to “adjust” nature too often, too strongly. We see this in everything from toxic agriculture, to pharmaceutical/palliative medicine, to winemaking. “Natural” winemaking is excoriated by everyone from Robert Parker to a lot of WBers, but I see it as tentative steps toward a restoration of compatibility and sustainability, even though such wines may, at this stage of the craft,sometimes taste odd or unpleasant. At some point we’ll find a happy and sustainable medium.
Thanks for letting me vent here (maybe I’ve had too much coffee this morning.) This is a great thread and I’m glad to be able to participate in it, as controversial as my remarks might seem. ![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
It’s H2S, not SO2. 
Like Linda said its the hydrogen sulfides that can be poppy/stink. Also some varietals like Mourvedre can have a natural barnyard component. I think a lot of southern rhones are said to be “bretty” when its really the Mourvedre.
Despite common misconception I really believe almost all “poop” characteristics in wine come from HS2 and varietal character. Different types of brett can produce different types of aromas but they are usually more bandid, sweat-like or even spice-like in character. Barnyard wine almost always blows off with air indicating HS2. A truly bretty wine seems to never blow off.
Seems that more recent research has indicated several things, among them that brett is pretty much everywhere and that 4eg:4ep has a big influence over which bretty aromas manifest.
And lots of folks confuse H2S, DMS, and even reductive conditions with brett. I see it all the time.