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A few years back, I grew my own Steuben grapes at home and decided to try my hand at making wine from scratch. Steuben is a deep blue-purple grape, so I was expecting something rich, dark, and red once it was ready. I bottled it up, tucked it away, and let it age for three years, figuring time would only make it better.

Now one bottle I opened up early and let in too much oxygen (for early tasting).

I was right that time would change it. I was wrong about what it would change it into.

The Reveal

Three years later, I finally opened it up for a taste test. First thing I noticed: the color. This was supposed to be a deep red wine, and instead I was looking at something the color of Scotch whiskey. Then I gave it a smell — and yep, that tracked too. It smelled like Scotch whiskey.

Then I actually tasted it, and that’s when things got weird. It wasn’t whiskey-flavored at all. It was wine that was clearly, unmistakably starting to taste like vinegar.

Color of whiskey. Smell of whiskey. Taste of vinegar. Not exactly the tasting notes I was going for.

So… Did I Accidentally Make Vinegar?

Turns out, yes — probably. And the strange part is that all three of those weird signs are actually the same problem wearing three different disguises.

Somewhere over those three years, my wine picked up more oxygen exposure than it should have — maybe the seal wasn’t perfectly airtight, maybe there was too much air space in the container. Once oxygen gets in and stays in, two things start happening at the same time:

• Oxidation turns the color brown/amber instead of staying red, and produces compounds that smell a lot like sherry, brandy, or — apparently — whiskey.
• Acetic acid bacteria (they’re just floating around in the air) get to work converting the alcohol into acetic acid. Which is, chemically speaking, just… vinegar.

So it wasn’t three separate flaws. It was one slow, three-year process of my wine quietly turning itself into vinegar, and I just happened to catch it partway through.

The Silver Lining

Here’s the fun part: this is basically how wine vinegar has been made on purpose for thousands of years. Wine, air, and time is the traditional recipe. I just did it completely by accident.

So instead of pouring three years of effort down the drain, I’m calling this a win. Homemade Steuben wine vinegar it is — salad dressing’s gain, wine glass’s loss. Next batch, I’m sealing things up a lot better.

Cheers!