Sediments in your wine! Should you drink it? Or throw the wine away? Is it harmful? Why is it even there? Before you panic find your answers here.
Sediments are unpleasant and annoying. While wine connoisseurs, experts, and sommeliers will dismiss the sediments in wine, for an average wine drinker it raises a doubt about the quality of the wine. But before you discard the wine be assured that wine sediments are harmless.
Where does it come from?
Well, sediments are naturally occurring particles in wine formed both during the fermentation process and while aging in the bottle. Hence some wines, especially older reds or high tannin wines, are more likely to develop sediments no matter how they’re stored while some others will almost never form sediments.
Sediments that look like dirt are formed from tannins. The ones that resemble tiny crystals are formed from the tartaric acid in the wine grapes.
Is it safe to drink?
Absolutely! Though sediments are not pretty it won’t make you sick.
How do you remove the sediments from the wine?
If you find sediments in your wine place the bottle in an upright position and leave it till the sediments settle at the bottom of the bottle. Then you can do either of the two things. Leave the sediment-heavy wine in the bottle and
Pour the rest of the wine directly into the glass using a clean, odorless strainer.
Or, decant the wine before serving. Pour the wine from the bottle carefully into another clean and clear vessel like a decanter (or a glass jug if you don’t have one). Give the original bottle a quick rinse to get all the sediment out. And pour the wine back into the bottle using a funnel. Else, simply serve the wine from the decanter or the jug.
TIP: If a little sediment still finds its way into your glass, don’t stress. Just enjoy the wine the way it was meant to be.
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