Sediment - does it affect the flavor

Poured a bottle into a decanter and wasn’t paying attention, saw a quarter size deposit slip in.

Does that change anything?

Nah. It might be a bit gritty and astringent, but that does not bother me.
Sediment is often prominent in the older California reds which I favor.

Just your smile…

welp, i’m having nightmares tonight

The 2009 Maybach Materium I had last weekend had sediment. I venture a product of no filtering.

Not anymore than it did while it spent the wine’s entire life with it in bottle.

If it’snot stired up in the wine, no. If it is, yes, of course it does since the sediment isn’t flavorless. In your case I’d say no.

Although not entirely on point with your question, I can’t stand when I end up with a mouth-full of sediment. I almost always end up spitting it back into the glass. Very low on the style-points spectrum, but I hate that!!

while I always hear about those who enjoy “chewing” the sediment, it is bitter and astringent; I don’t like it. What happened to you probably won’t make a difference to the wine
alan

Sediment can affect the flavor of wine depending on what it is. If it is lees from the wine being racked poorly, it has flavor. The wine will taste differently with that mixed in than it will with it settled out. If it is tartrate, no. It will sit on the bottom of the glass. Also, with the lees, suspended particles will affect the way aroma is released by wine, in theory at least. I’d like to see an experiment on this, but I believe it to be true.

As others have stated, I also find it bitter and astringent. I find it also affects the nose of the wine, as when I get a glass of wine with heavy sediment, I notice metallic notes.

It depends on the grape, too. I don’t mind some fine sediment in the dregs of an old Bordeaux. Sometimes that last glass has the aromas you get with exposure to air plus some extra guts from the sediment. But in Burgundy and nebbiolo wines, particularly, if you stir up fine sediment, it is very detrimental.

(Clumps and tartrate crystals are another thing. I wouldn’t worry about them.)

Yes, if it is a well aged wine, the sediment could be mainly precipitated tannins. These will affect the flavor if they are stirred in.

Yes, as Andrew says, you have define the “sediment”. I get rid of all kinds just before drinking, to be sure. It doesn’t add anything at that stage and can add a big negative. I am convinced that many many people have thought a wine spoiled, bad, over the hill, damaged, etc…when the sediment from precipitated tannins was incorporated or in suspension, when “cleaning” it off the sediment/decanting/filtering would have resulted in a wine without those issues. I know, I used to be that way.

“Sediment” that is purposefully left in from the winemaking is not harmful, though telling the difference in a wine that has some age is very difficult. That’s why I err on getting rid of it.