WineLovers Discussion Group

So I was pouring the 02 Cinq into a decanter Friday night and up popped this lump. For a second I thought it was a cork but no, it was deep purple like the wine, and rounded. And like an ice berg, there seemed to be more under the surface than was on top. So I grabbed another decanter and carefully poured the wine off and discovered that the blob was one very well soaked wasp. EW.

This is the first time that I've ever gotten a bug in a bottle of wine. I had to serve the wine, so I said nothing to anyone else and took poured just a teaspoon for myself. I know, I know, it had been dead for a long time but mentally I still couldn't drink it knowing what was in there so as far as I was concerned, it was $60 down the drain.

Disgusting on both counts.

Anyone else ever get a stowaway like this?

Oh, sure. It happens, but not all that often, thank goodness.

I'm a bit amazed that it got past the QC people at CSJ---but, truth told, since the trendy advent of 'non-fined and non-filtered' the occasional surprise of MOG (matter other than grapes) appearing in a bottle is more common than it used to be. Solids don't usually get past the various screens they use in most wineries.

You really don't want to dwell on what got screened out of the grapes and must, Jenise. Sometimes odd and disturbing things find their way into those all-too-natural grapes.

MOG. Now there's a term I hope I don't have to use again, but I like it. As far as stuff that usually doesn't get past screens, I was wondering about that and thinking that this wasp might have simply been in the bottle. His legs were intact (hence I know wasp from bee) and they're pretty big bugs.

Could have been, Jenise. To me, that makes the QC even worse though.

The bottles are supposed to be sterilised and sparged before they go through the bottling line.

In any case, it was pickled wasp you had. Likely a delicacy in some places. "Oh, look, my beloved, we were so fortunate as to get the pickled wasp in our wine. Truly the gods must love us. According to our ancient tradition, you shall eat the head and I shall eat the nether regions and we will have endless nights of wedded bliss."

Did you by any chance have a Sting record playing softly in the background when you opened the Sink Seepage?

Hoke wrote:In any case, it was pickled wasp you had. Likely a delicacy in some places. "Oh, look, my beloved, we were so fortunate as to get the pickled wasp in our wine. Truly the gods must love us. According to our ancient tradition, you shall eat the head and I shall eat the nether regions and we will have endless nights of wedded bliss."

Did you by any chance have a Sting record playing softly in the background when you opened the Sink Seepage?

__________________________

OMG! That was great, Hoke!

Most of the pickled wasps I see are episcopalians.

David M. Bueker wrote:Most of the pickled wasps I see are episcopalians.

The least you could do is capitilize Episcopalians, who by definition are Catholics who have flunked Latin.

Lou Kessler wrote:

David M. Bueker wrote:Most of the pickled wasps I see are episcopalians.

The least you could do is capitilize Episcopalians, who by definition are Catholics who have flunked Latin.

Whoops. That's what I get for posting pickled. But then I'm a Methodist. And I've always considered the Methodist church to be the island of misfit Catholics.

Don't Methodists still prohibit alcohol?

Isaac wrote:Don't Methodists still prohibit alcohol?

Well, not really. They discourage it. I was a black sheep as a Catholic, and now I'm a black sheep as a Methodist. At least I am consistent.

Jenise wrote:This is the first time that I've ever gotten a bug in a bottle of wine. I had to serve the wine, so I said nothing to anyone else and took poured just a teaspoon for myself.

Note to self - watch Jenise veeery carefully when she decants wine - especially if she only takes a nominal pour (being so contrary to her nature as that is).

I was getting consistent hitchhikers in bottles of one particular vintage of Atlas Peak Sangio for awhile. Never sure what they were.....

Bill, strange you mention Atlas Peak. That's the only other wine I've ever had that had stuff in the bottle (a 94 IIRC), and I had several bottles of the wine that were equally affected--looked like boiled egg white, actually. Is that what you might have had? Others at the time mentioned it too. So I called the winery to ask about it and they were instantly hostile in their denial--clearly they'd had other complaints and were going to deny that they'd bottled contaminated wine until the cows came home regardless of evidence to the contrary. I've never bought another bottle of their wine.

Jenise wrote:Anyone else ever get a stowaway like this?

No critters on my end, Jenise, but I've had bottles with sizable stalky-stemmy things. One restaurant bottle of Clos Pegase Cabernet I remember in particular for its "free," five- or six-inch-long branch, replete with offshoots. A biggish stem portion from a grape cluster, from the looks of it. I was kind of surprised it made it into the bottle. I didn't notice it until toward the end, and the wine was rather good. I pointed it out to the server for future reference, but I didn't really have a complaint.

Jenise wrote:looked like boiled egg white, actually.

Egg whites are fining agents so it might have been egg white! (which would appear pretty nasty I'm thinkin')

A winemaker (in his cups) once told me that wasps just add character to wine and it is probably good luck to get one in your bottle!



Ruth

Ruth B wrote:A winemaker (in his cups) once told me that wasps just add character to wine

Geez - the last thing I want to be reminded of when I am trying to enjoy wine is my mother-in-law....

I have a bottle of fir liquer (yep...fir...as in fir tree...smells like Christmas) that has a fruit fly in it.

Bill Spohn wrote:

Ruth B wrote:A winemaker (in his cups) once told me that wasps just add character to wine

Geez - the last thing I want to be reminded of when I am trying to enjoy wine is my mother-in-law....

ooooh--did you share this with Suze?

Ruth B wrote:
ooooh--did you share this with Suze?

It is on a need to know basis - and I need her not to know......

Ruth B wrote:

Jenise wrote:looked like boiled egg white, actually.

Egg whites are fining agents so it might have been egg white! (which would appear pretty nasty I'm thinkin')

A winemaker (in his cups) once told me that wasps just add character to wine and it is probably good luck to get one in your bottle!



Ruth

That's how I figured it got there, Ruth, but the winery denied fining with egg white. I won't elaborate, but you're right about it looking nasty!

Brian Loring once told me about the same thing about the wasps as he emptied just-crushed grapes into a bin containing a few dead ones. "More protein for you!", he said. I guess I'm just too girly.

Jenise:

Whatever you do, don't watch the movie "American Pie."

Trust me on this.

Hoke wrote:Jenise:

Whatever you do, don't watch the movie "American Pie."

Trust me on this.

You mean it's not about cooking?

Wasp in wine... worm in Mescal.

What's the problem????

David M. Bueker wrote:Well, not really. They discourage it. I was a black sheep as a Catholic, and now I'm a black sheep as a Methodist. At least I am consistent.

I was married in a Methodist church. We had a reception there, nad were not allowed any alcohol. So we went around the room quietly inviting close friends and relatives to the post-reception party at my parents' house.

Isaac wrote:

David M. Bueker wrote:Well, not really. They discourage it. I was a black sheep as a Catholic, and now I'm a black sheep as a Methodist. At least I am consistent.

I was married in a Methodist church. We had a reception there, nad were not allowed any alcohol. So we went around the room quietly inviting close friends and relatives to the post-reception party at my parents' house.

Ah, that's different. You can't actually have alcohol in the church, but then they don't have proper glassware anyway.

I remember one of our prior ministers saying to me about my wine habit: "It's fine, as long as you are not a drunk." Luckily I am a geek.