What is this in my wine? Just opened this a week ago and put it my fridge. Not sure if it was there before…Sorry for the bad pictures but my camera wouldnt focus through the glass.
What is this in my wine? Just opened this a week ago and put it my fridge. Not sure if it was there before…Sorry for the bad pictures but my camera wouldnt focus through the glass.
by pentser
11 Comments
Apprehensive_Drive72
Umm there’s some shit in yo bottle
geminicatmeow
Tartrate crystals. Not harmful.
JamesMosesAngleton
Tartrate crystals known colloquially as “wine diamonds.” They’re a good thing because they mean your wine wasn’t cold stabilized (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it is one less intervention that your wine didn’t go through). They’re perfectly harmless and you could even munch on them if you wanted to but they wouldn’t taste like much.
Malbec_Man
That looks like tartaric crystals. They usually don’t build up like that though, (especially in white wines) unless it’s a natty wine, which this isn’t.
smokeythedank
Wine diamonds
Harvest_Rat
To add WHY (since it’s yet to be addressed): This wine was not cold stabilized by the winery. When they do, they chill it in tanks prior to bottling to precipitate these. However this affects the flavor via acidity (in my opinion; I don’t cold stabilized in my winery and tend to barely chill my whites when presenting them).
verycooladultperson
This is a common question but answering wine diamonds or tartaric crystals is not much of an explanation. Wine, especially white wine, is often full of tartaric acid. However, tartaric acid is not particularly stable in the solution and when the wine is exposed to sustained temperatures below 30F, that tartaric acid destabilizes enough to fall out of the solution in crystalline form. This can be avoided (and usually is) when wineries aggressively cool the wine down below 30F for generally 2 weeks or so via the use of jacketed tanks with chilled propylene glycol running through the jackets. This is incredibly effective but obviously has an energy cost and also can affect the pH and TA (Titratable Acidity) of the wine. Or you can also use chemical intervention via cellulose gum which disorganizes the salt surfaces which are required for crystal formation and thus the tartrates never present themselves in a viewable form.
Napaandy
You’ll often see them on corks.
yesiamican
We have to do a “What is this in my wine” master post there’s like 5 of these questions a day
Tartrates/Tartrate Crystals – Crystalline deposits in wine formed by the potassium salt of tartaric acid and other material such as polyphenols. These crystals can precipitate in wine when it is chilled to around 4° Celsius (40° Fahrenheit). They are tasteless, harmless and once formed cannot be reabsorbed into the wine. Wines can avoid the formation of tartrate crystals by cold stabilisation methods where wine is chilled to -4° to -10° Celsius, enabling the crystals to form, and then can be filtered out of the wine before bottling. AKA Wine diamonds.
earthgold
Further to all the correct answers, a week is a long time to be storing a wine like that in a fridge after opening, regardless.
11 Comments
Umm there’s some shit in yo bottle
Tartrate crystals. Not harmful.
Tartrate crystals known colloquially as “wine diamonds.” They’re a good thing because they mean your wine wasn’t cold stabilized (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it is one less intervention that your wine didn’t go through). They’re perfectly harmless and you could even munch on them if you wanted to but they wouldn’t taste like much.
That looks like tartaric crystals. They usually don’t build up like that though, (especially in white wines) unless it’s a natty wine, which this isn’t.
Wine diamonds
To add WHY (since it’s yet to be addressed):
This wine was not cold stabilized by the winery. When they do, they chill it in tanks prior to bottling to precipitate these. However this affects the flavor via acidity (in my opinion; I don’t cold stabilized in my winery and tend to barely chill my whites when presenting them).
This is a common question but answering wine diamonds or tartaric crystals is not much of an explanation. Wine, especially white wine, is often full of tartaric acid. However, tartaric acid is not particularly stable in the solution and when the wine is exposed to sustained temperatures below 30F, that tartaric acid destabilizes enough to fall out of the solution in crystalline form. This can be avoided (and usually is) when wineries aggressively cool the wine down below 30F for generally 2 weeks or so via the use of jacketed tanks with chilled propylene glycol running through the jackets. This is incredibly effective but obviously has an energy cost and also can affect the pH and TA (Titratable Acidity) of the wine. Or you can also use chemical intervention via cellulose gum which disorganizes the salt surfaces which are required for crystal formation and thus the tartrates never present themselves in a viewable form.
You’ll often see them on corks.
We have to do a “What is this in my wine” master post there’s like 5 of these questions a day
Here’s some info from https://thewinechaser.wordpress.com/2024/09/29/sommeliers-wine-glossary/
Tartrates/Tartrate Crystals – Crystalline deposits in wine formed by the potassium salt of tartaric acid and other material such as polyphenols. These crystals can precipitate in wine when it is chilled to around 4° Celsius (40° Fahrenheit). They are tasteless, harmless and once formed cannot be reabsorbed into the wine. Wines can avoid the formation of tartrate crystals by cold stabilisation methods where wine is chilled to -4° to -10° Celsius, enabling the crystals to form, and then can be filtered out of the wine before bottling. AKA Wine diamonds.
Further to all the correct answers, a week is a long time to be storing a wine like that in a fridge after opening, regardless.