So, I recently drank a bottle of 2015 Vincent WV Pinot and it had a noticeably “cloudy” appearance. I think some here refer to it as “suspended particulates” and is associated with some unfiltered wines.
In any case, it seemed to also give some texture to the mouthfeel, which I found very enjoyable. I’ve noticed this on other young wines as well - a few Sandler Pinots comes to mind. I don’t consider this related to the wines being “stirred up” from excessive movement because the wines are young and I don’t do anything that would shake them up.
Does anyone else have an opinion or thoughts on this issue?
Anecdotal, but I find the cloudiness generally translates to a muddiness or muting of flavors. I would let any cloudy bottles rest for a while and let the particulate settle.
Yes. On the plus side is the mouthfeel you noted, plus a dimension of flavor that can be stripped away with fining. (And it’s fining that would remove those larger particles in a wine where they’re significant.)
The down side is a sort of conditioned expectation of appearance by the general market. They want that sparkle of a filtered wine and think something’s wrong if it’s a bit cloudy. On top of that, that’s a lot of solids that will precipitate out with some aging, which can freak people out.
Some of my benchmark revelatory wines were quite chunky with suspended solids, giving them a velvety feel.
But, in not filtering you do have an increased risk of microbial activity happening in the bottle. That’s a whole other discussion, but to put it simply: some wineries have to filter, while others have very long track records of never filtering and never having a problem.
Maybe cloudy isn’t the right word, but he’s talking suspended solids in unfined unfiltered young wines. Not something that will settle standing a couple days (and not the product of bad winemaking).
I once wrote a tasting note on a Sandler pinot noir and specifically called out the excellent clarity and noted it must have been filtered. Ed emailed me a nice note and said he just had a good day racking with that wine. LOL
For me it’s color dependent. If it’s a cab or Syrah and I can’t see through it, I generally like it. If it’s a Pinot or a Cinsault or the like, I enjoy clarity.
It’s funny because I saw this thread and clicked on it because I don’t exactly love cloudy young red wine myself. Funny because this was prompted by one of my wines.
In this case, I honestly just had a bad day of racking and picked up too much lees. My Willamette Valley bottling is mostly press wine, which drops out more sediment in barrel. So the racking needs to be spot on and I sorta muffed it with the 2015 (we’re back on form in 2016, FYI). I don’t think it’s a substantial negative in the wine, particularly if you leave the bottle upright for a couple of days. But I’ll admit I like the look of a wine that’s been racked more carefully.
Rest assured my higher end Cuvees have no press wine and rarely throw much sediment until they’ve been cellared a while. I’m committed to unfiltered wine, just need to get the racking tight on those press barrels. Cheers!
Cloudy wine from being unfiltered doesn’t bother me at all. Was the bottle recently shipped? That can shake things up more. I generally give wines two months after receipt to calm down. But cloudiness just doesn’t bother me at all, and I’ve never noticed a qualitative difference. Just not something I’m sensitive to.
‘05 and ‘07 Rayas are beautiful and both have a cloudy opacity. I prefer unfiltered wine, if it ends up being a little cloudy I am totally fine with that.
Thanks for weighing in, Vincent. I’m sorry to have mentioned your wine by name, but honestly, I did not anticipate any negative reaction on this topic and am, in fact, giving it praise! From the responses here, it indeed seems like this is a non-issue for most.
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