I started it in early march with the idea that I wanted a dry but fresh and somewhat complex wine for summer. I infused some oak chips with rum, but only had them in for a week something early on with the hope that the harshness would dissipate with gases and what is left behind becomes subtly integrated in the wine. I was going for notes and slight tannins as opposed to the super dry that was my autumn wine.

While fermenting it was about 19-21°C in the room with a cold draft by the floor that probably made it more like 16-18°C down there. I didn’t think of picking a yeast ahead so I went with the generic one that came in the box.

It’s been a very interesting ride in this relatively short period of time. The fermentation was very slow, as expected by the temperature and draft. It stopped bubbling but had plenty of sugar left in it so I racked it to oxygenate, added yeast nutrients and kept swirling it gently daily until I got it going again.

Last taste was a month ago and it was not good, hoping it would mature after bottling and otherwise make it a learning experience. Today, much to my surprise, it is young but damn delicious already. Great taste, great mouthfeel. Tannins but not overly so, hints of vanilla, oak and rum. Easy to drink and yet some interesting flavours to explore. It’s all I was hoping for.

But now I have a new problem. While bottling it, I accidentally overfilled some bottles that I balanced into a glass, and then clumsy me spilled the last splash from the vessel into the glass too.

Now I’m sitting outside on a lovely warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, glass in hand, the wine is oxidized and can not be returned to the batch. I’m not sure what to do about it. Please advice.