Winemaker's
Question: Testing indicates than
Brett is not present, but the winemaking staff agrees that this wine is
Brett affected. What's up with that?
Winemaker's
Question: Testing indicates than
Brett is not present, but the winemaking staff agrees that this wine is
Brett affected. What's up with that?
Z-Wine (SJL) Answers It is possible that Brett had been present, and that treatment successfully killed (or filtered-out all the Brett. It is also possible that you and the staff are mistaking non-Brett spoilage character for Brett character.
It is absolutely impossible to smell a wine and know if there is Brett in it!
Different Brettanomyces (dekkera bruxellensis) strains produce a broad range of metabolites some of which contribute favorable character at low concentrations (Ref 1,2, 3, Z-Enology data) and undesirable character at high concentrations.
Some metabolites are always undesirable, yet others go unnoticed. And, the metabolites produced by one strain can change depending on the wine environment and the Brett metabolic condition. In addition, non-brett wine spoilage organisms produce a variety of off-odors and flavors.
Anyone who claims they smell or do not smell Brett and relates this to a Z-Brett result is confused with respect to Brett metabolites.
Learn about our microbiology media designed especially to promote phenolic "sniff" detection of strains of Brett that produce volatile phenols (e.g. 4ep).