Finally popped the box open to put a bottle in the fridge to chill, and to my surprise there is a CONSIDERABLE amount of sediment in all six bottles… Based on my past experience with this wine, this is definitely not normal. My main thought is did these get too cold in transit? I recall reading that wine will develop sediment when it freezes, but my real concern is, are these still drinkable or do I need to get in touch with the winery??
Perhaps tartrate crystals? Not unusual in wine by any means. Totally harmless and nothing to worry about. It does happen when wines that have not previously been cold stabilized experience very cold temps.
looks like tartaric crystals. seems you cold-stabilized your bottles. I would expect a decrease in TA. Totally drinkable just not as much structural acidity for better/worse.
Agreed, a decent amount too. If it were me I’d let the winery know just for informational purposes - shipping method, route etc. I know I’d like to know if this happened when shipping.
I bought 6, have drunk 2, and have had 0 look like yours? I don’t think its a prob cuz I’ve had plenty of other wines do the same….mostly Viognier’s……have you crack open one yet?
Wine doesn’t have to freeze for the crystals to form. I’ve had whites drop out tartrate from being stored in a kitchen refrigerator. The wine is fine.
Decided not to open to see what the general consensus was… will wait til tomorrow, which is bad for me b/c the wife will be back home and I’ll have to share!
It would be interesting to contact the winery and see if they did cold stabilize their wine. I agree that these are tartrate crystals and they are harmless, but perhaps the winery is not aware that this wine is not cold stable.
There are a few ways to ensure that a wine is cold stable, but most wineries, including mine, just ‘assume’ that it’s stable based on keeping the wine at 32 degrees for 2-3 weeks . . . but sometimes, it takes more.
Cheers!
Every Arnot roberts Pink I’ve had had sediment.
Not my favorite rose so I stopped buying a while ago, but I always noticed it. This is really the onky rose I can say that it was the norm.
not to worry drink away… plenty of wines devlop crystals
Those are wine diamonds. They make the wine more valuable.
Ian,
Do you cold stabilize your rose and whites? As I said above, I send them on their way, but never check to make sure that they actually are cold stabilized . . .
That said, it certainly is only a ‘cosmetic’ process and should not affect the wines either way, other than appearance - or am I missing something?!?!?
Cheers!
I received two bottles of the rose this year, both with these crystals in it. My first bottles from AR - haven’t tried them yet. Curious to hear some tasting notes on it.
Hi, Larry. Cold stabilization is more than “cosmetic.” If you do it correctly, you’re dropping out potassium so the chemical structure of the wine is fundamentally changed. We can debate, and we have, whether this changes the “terroir” of the wine - that issue aside for now, I think we can agree that changing the chemical structure of a wine is more than cosmetic?
As an aside, the photo above seems to show more than simple tartaric drop in that sediment. However, I’m sure the wine is perfectly fine and wouldn’t stop me from trying it. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
John,
Curious as to whether you have done blind tastings comparing and before and after cold stabilized wines. I have not done it blind, but when tasting samples before and after, I really do not detect much change at all. I have seen cases where acid levels are altered a tad, but not much. Where I oftentimes see more changes is the aromatics of the wine - but it’s impossible to know whether that is caused by simply chilling the wine for that long OR the process itself.
Curious as to your feedback on this.
And as far as the A/R wine goes, I would not worry about the sediment whatsoever if I was a purchaser - just my $.02 on that.
Cheers!
I personally prefer to see something like that so you know the wine was as much of its whole as possible. I don’t even filter my whites but have had to devlop a techniques to make sure its crystal clear in the bottle. But… Its a consumer perception thing more than anything. I don’t cold stabilize right now but will in the future at some point to be able to sell more wine to restaurants and so that customers don’t have think about treating our wine different than any others. As of yet we have had no complaints and restaurants serve our whites at 50-55 or bring out a ice bucket for a few minutes if requested. Cold stabilization is way more inert on a wine than the additives that can do it or RO. Most customers and restaurants will do it to the wine anyway in a refrigerator and just leave the crystals behind on the last pour.
The main thing that gets me with the consumer perception is that unfiltered apple juice at TJ’s sells 10X+ more than the filtered version. Yet for wine especially white any haze or tartrates are unacceptable. Juice is flash pasteurized (and often sterile filtered) usually taking away some benefits. At least with wine you can have some raw versions you just have to accept some sediment if you like to drink it cold or store it in a refrigerator maybe even a little haze if unfiltered.
The wine is fine, well actually probably better than fine. Pull, Pour, Enjoy!
West coast roses and whites from 2014 that were bottled early, not cold stabilized, and didn’t sit in a very cold cellar, will probably throw lots of tartrates. We had a seriously warm winter in California. I keep the thermostat at 62 in my cellar, but most winters it doesn’t kick on from late November to mid March. The winter of 2013-14 was an exception in that we had a warm January. 2014-15 was an extreme exception in that we had a warm January, February and March. It’s finally cooling down in early April. I think I’ll see more tartrates in my Pinots from 2014 than in my Chards. I try to let the Chardonnays sit 13 to 14 months in barrel to let them cold stabilize themselves, more with time than with temperature. I bottle the Pinots after only 11 months. Wine enthusiasts tend to give tartrates in red wines a pass more than they do in whites, so I’m not too worried about consumer acceptance with the tartrates in the Pinots.