Will a little mould ruin the wine?

[benner]

I obtained a load of grapes today, most bunches were sound but some had mould. Ranging from a few grapes to a clump of mouldy mess. Obviously i'm picking out the worst of it but i think some will have gone in unnoticed. I intend to add campden tablets before pitching wine yeast, is this likely to save it?

Cheers
Benner

[MKG]

It's not ideal, but I imagine a lot of wines have mould-bitten grapes in there somewhere. Some moulds are actually beneficial - botrytis, for instance. Picking out the worst affected grapes is about as much as you can do (and is what would happen in a commercial environment), and the Campden tablets should effectively kill off the rest. And, once you get a decent colony of yeast in there, any remaining mould spores don't stand a chance. I would imagine that as long as the non-mouldy grapes outnumber the mouldy grapes by a fair amount, your wine will be fine - alcohol is a great disinfectant.

Mike

[benner]

Thanks Mike.