Can anyone figure this one out

[Gary Delligatti]

I recently decided to go to a wine and Jazz festival in Morgantown WV. I came acorss a WV "Wine maker" and he said his "vinyard" uses metal vats to proces his wine which "gives it a unique taste". I replied, so, you distaill alcohol, add some flavoring and call it wine. he says...no, we process our wine in a metal vat. I reply, well how long does it age in that metal vat, he says, it doesn;t age its' ready right away. Soooo, I try a sip. I am not a wine tasting expert so my descriptins might not be truely accurate, but the best way that I can describe it is: Stale beer, mixed with old eggs with a distnct metal finish. I mean, geesh, where I come from, we would call this moonshine, flavored. Anyone hear of this type of processing? Maybe I'm not firing on all cylinders here>
Thanks

[Bob Ross]

Welcome to WLDG, Gary -- a great place to discuss wine.

Stainless steel tanks are often used to make wine -- see for example

http://www.onthevine.net/Spring-2005/st ... sthat.html .

But I can't add much more -- his "wine" sounds dreadful.

Again, welcome. Regards, Bob

[Howie Hart]

Gary - welcome to the forum. If you're serious about learning about wine, you've come to the right place.

Stainless steel fermentation tanks are pretty much the standard in the wine industry. I don't know of other "metals" used. Aging does not actually take place in SS tanks. Over time, some changes make take place, but these may be secondary fermentation, precipitation of tartrates, clarification, which are tems not usualy attributed to aging. Often red wines are aged in oak barrels. Most whites are not aged this way. A rotten egg odor indicates the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and is a flaw produced when the wine is oxygen starved during fermentation - often caused by using a yeast strain that requires nutrients which aren't present. Stale beer could be caused by too much time on the lees (sediment formed during fermentation). I can't address the metal finish, but moonshine is a distilled product, whereas wine and beer are simple fermented products.

[Gary Delligatti]

Thank you all for the info,,,I have learned something new.
Thanks again