Foul smell from 4 day open LBV?

[Chris Wellbo]

Hi! I opened up and decanted a Rozes 2003 LBV 4 days ago. Everything went well, no sediment in the decanter. It tasted lovely, aroma was great too. Drank half the bottle in the first 2 days, and didn´t have any until today. Kept it slightly below room temperature. Now, when I pour a glass, there is a distinct foul smell that reminds me of rotten fruit. The smell subsides a bit after 20-30 minutes. After that, it doesn´t taste bad, but the magic from the first two days is completely missing. It feels like I´m drinking a completely different wine.

As a newbie to port, and so far mainly a tawny fan, I never had this experience before. Is it normal? Shouldn´t it be OK at least a week? Can someone shed light on what might have happened to the wine? Thanks.

[John M.]

Sounds tainted...did it smell like wet cardboard?

[Andy Velebil]

Hmm, can't say I've run across exactly what you're describing so not really sure what the issue could have been. Though a random guess....maybe it was cooked while in transit or storage at some point and with a couple days of air that stewed fruit really started to show itself.

[Glenn E.]

That's pretty strange. Normally I would expect anything that's going to show after 4 days to already be present at 2 days as well. It can sometimes take a couple of hours - or even several - for a bad reaction to take place, but to me it seems extremely unusual that the Port still "had the magic" after 2 days open but then suddenly developed a rotten fruit aroma after 2 more days. Especially when that aroma seems to subside after 20-30 minutes.

Could it be some sort of bacterial infection? I don't have a lot of experience with those...

[Eric Ifune]

Residual in the decanter?