Have you ever noticed a deposit in your glass of wine? ? Is this a fault ? Beaux-Vins explains everything about this phenomenon.
It has certainly happened to you to notice with dismay a deposit in the bottom of your glass or your bottle during your tasting.. No later than last week, I tasted a Bordeaux at the restaurant. The last glass was more like Turkish coffee than the wine that you could enjoy at the start of the bottle.
Why is there deposit at the bottom of the bottle ?
I am sure I am not telling you anything if I tell you that wine is produced from a fruit called "grape". We must not forget that it is a living matter that is locked in a bottle. After being picked up, the grape is pressed to extract the juice which will constitute our precious liquid. This juice is then placed in a tank for several fermentations to take place - malolactic and alcoholic fermentation —. The winemaker can then decide to filter his wine to remove the deposits.. The winemaker can also decide not to filter it by aging on lees - lees designate dead yeasts during fermentation - to obtain a fatter wine.
But let's go further, because different deposits are possible. — you thought it was gonna be easy ? —
How to recognize deposits in wine ?
You may see two types of deposits in your glass or bottle. — outside the cork of the stopper —.
You can see white crystals for white wines and rosé for red wines. These tartar crystals that we call "gravel", have no effect on the wine, its conservation or its taste. These gravel are due to the precipitation of part of the tartaric acid in the wine. Small crystals can be seen on the cap. If this is the case, I invite you to experience a taste of it. You will feel a slight acidity on the tongue. They are caused by storing wine for a fairly long period of time., under 5 °C.
You notice dark platelets or paste in your red wine. It is one of the signs of aging in wine and it is natural. — this is the case with our photo at the beginning of the article —. It is a combination of tannins and coloring matters during aging.
These materials then concentrate all along the bottle., because you have thought of keeping your bottles lying down.
What to do when I see crystals ?
The different deposits that you have learned to recognize form naturally and are not dangerous if you swallow them., so don't worry. These are not faults either and in the vast majority of cases, they do not alter the taste of wine. The only advice I can give you is to be careful not to pour it into the glasses., even if it means leaving a background of wine in the bottle.
Although not dangerous, this deposit is not really aesthetic in your glass of wine so you might as well avoid it.
The ideal is to decant your wine if you have a decanter. To find out more, I invite you to read the article : « Wine : What is the Difference Between Decanter and Decanter ? ". A carafe has two important functions :
- Carafer : consists of pouring the wine into the carafe in order to aerate it. Contact with the open air will result in opening a wine that is too young, closed or showing a reduction. The tannins will soften and the wine will be more balanced.
- Decant : consists of gently pouring the wine into the decanter so that the solid deposit which was in the bottle settles in the bottom of the decanter and not in the bottom of your glass. On the other hand, decanting can be risky for older bottles which risk being weakened by this sudden change.
Finally, if you see red platelets in your bottle of white, it is likely that in your cellar, other bottles of the same wine are also affected by the phenomenon. This deposit being a sign of aging, you will have to carefully monitor the evolution of these other bottles so as not to let them die in your cellar.
- How to store your bottles in good conditions ?
- What is the Difference Between Decanter and Decanter ?
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