"Tire"-like aroma in wine

[artal]

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting in the Wine forum. Question: I opened two bottles of Marta de Balta 2001 tonight (Pares Balta winery, D.O. Penedes, Spain) and the first one had an awful aroma of tires/rubber and the second one also had it, although not as pronounced. Has anyone ever noticed this in any wine they've opened? In the past I've only noticed when a wine is off but have never smelled anything like this before.

[StevenC]

Hm. Just off the top of my head, it could be mercaptans. Did aeration have any effect?

[KatieLoeb]

I've not had that specific wine before, but I've had the Pares Balta "Mas Elena" and thought it was one of the tastiest wines I've had.

I've experienced that "burnt rubber" smell with certain South American Malbecs or South African Pinotage before, but never in a Spanish wine.

StephenC is correct when he says sometime aeration helps. Sometimes those funky aromas (not just this one, but many) sort of "blow off" the wine after a few minutes in the glass and some swirling.

[Brad Ballinger]

Typically, it's a hydrogen sulfide issue that probably isn't going to appreciably improve. StevenC mentioned mercaptans, which is hydrogen sulfide gone bad. The result can be the smell of burnt rubber, rotten eggs, garlic, sewage. If the odor you experienced is just a burnt match type of sulfur, this is usually resolved with aeration. Some people even put a penny in the glass to "correct" the wine.

[artal]

Burnt rubber sounds more like it. It had already been open for 3 hours before I tried it, so i'm not sure that further aeration would've helped. The strange thing is, when I gave it to the customer to taste, she said it was great, and was raving about the wine before she left. Since about half of the bottle was left behind, I gave some to the waitstaff to try, and that is when we noticed it. A real shame, since it's around 60 euros/bottle (and both bottles were this customer's, and she "approved" both bottles).

[jsolomon]

Decanting usually provides much better aeration.

Although, I have had some wines with a decided burnt rubber taste wherein that burnt rubber taste actually did go well with the wine.

[-sheila mooney]

Decanting usually provides much better aeration.

Although, I have had some wines with a decided burnt rubber taste wherein that burnt rubber taste actually did go well with the wine.

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i recently attended a blind tasting of 95 chateauneuf du pape - 7 examples plus a "mystery wine" (which turned out to be cigare volant, btw).

anyway, one wine i intensely disliked for that overpowering "wheelies" scent. half of the 15 member group felt the same way; many others chose it as their favourite wine of the evening. it was domaine beaurenard, cuvee boisrenard...