Troubleshooting Wine Kit Aroma

Before we finish shooting smelly troubles in wine kits we need to do a quick recap of the basics of troubleshooting: Almost all of these issues can be avoided if you carefully follow the instructions that came with your wine kit. Kits sometimes have procedures that contradict accepted techniques for fresh grape/fresh juice winemaking. There are a lot of reasons for this, but they all boil down to the same thing: That’s the way that the kit ferments, clears and stabilizes best, as proven by numerous lab trials. Subverting the instructions or substituting procedures should only be undertaken when you are confident that you understand all of the downstream implications of the changes you’re making. On to the potential defects of aroma! Wine smells like matches Excess sulfite is characterized by a “burnt match” or “sulfur/volcano” smell, often accompanied by a sharp tickling in the nose. Typical ways that excess sulfite gets into wine is either through miscalculated additions (adding a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon) or when a carboy or primary has been cleaned or stored with sulfite solution