Raspberry wine question 46Okay - actually I had to go to my wine book to see what it had to say - Terry Garey's Home Winemaking book. You...
The yeast not being happy during primary fermentation (high H2S consistent with the fermentation going reductive) may have led to some cap spoilage, if it started to dry out at any time during primary fermentation. Did your primary fermentation go very slowly? That could explain the mustiness.
Also, leaving the fruit 'skins' in contact with the wine for too long can add a mustiness to wine. I did this intentionally as experiments in extreme extended maceration (3 months and 6 months) of zinfandel wine. The wine was good except for a hint of ethyl acetate (overripe pineapple smell) after 3 months and the beginning of mustiness caused by the skins starting to break down (in addition to the ethyl acetate) after 6 months.
Another cause of mustiness would be Brettanomyces contamination. Brettanomyces spores are everywhere, just waiting for insufficient sanitation practices in preparing the fermentor to get growing.
The other earthy mustiness I'm familiar with is TCA (trichloroanisole), also know as 'corked' wine. That has been traditionally buttociated with either tainted cork used in bottling, but can also be caused by having damp wood or cardboard in your 'winery', especially when bleach is used for sanitation.
All four of these musty smells are the byproducts of different kinds of fungus.... nature's most efficient decomposers.
Gene
Rick
