storage question

The fine particles that make up the sediment are heavier than the wine and slowly settle if not disturbed. If the bottle is left alone for a long time, the particles tend to form a crust that sticks to the bottle. This is an advantage, because it makes the wine easier to pour when opened without stirring up the sediment so easily. Port is an extreme example. If vintage port is bought young and allowed to lie in one position until opened many years later, a rather sticky crust forms on the side of the bottle that does not get stirred up very easily when the port is poured. On the other hand if you transport the old port across the country, the crust gets broken and stirred up in the wine, and the wine can be very difficult to pour until the fine particles have a chance to settle out. Why anyone would want the sediment not to stick to the side of the bottle beats me.

Thanks. That was my thoughts as well. But I was willing to bounce it off the group.

If it stays there when I turn the bottle upright to open it, then fine. But if it's not quite "sticky" enough, I'd rather have the sediment already on the bottom. This would suggest a slightly neck high recline.

Jose

Or you can use a wine basket for decanting and not have to stand the bottle upright at all. When I use the wine machine, I open the bottle and put it in the machine the day before I want to draw any. The machine I use allows the tap tube to be lowered to the position you wish after flushing out the air with nitrogen through the tap tube positioned just above the surface of the wine. I place the end of the tap tube a bit above the bottom of the bottle. When the wine is nearly gone, I lower the tap tube to just a bit above any sediment. In that way I can recover more sediment free wine than by pouring by hand. There are a few exceptions that have very light sediment that is easily stirred up. One is Tokaji essence. It can take weeks or months for sediment to settle in this wine after it is shipped. Such wines need to stand up for a long time before they are opened, and then opened extremely carefully. I fact some such wines were stored standing up in very damp cellars, and this did not seem to lead to premature cork failure. A lot of the old wines have sealing wax capsules, and as long as the wax does not crack, the condition of the cork is of little importance. I have seen very old bottles of vintage Madeira where the wax seal is all that is keeping the wine from spilling on the floor if it lies down.

I take it "wine basked" and "wine machine" are the same? How do you open the bottle in the first place? (is it on its side?)

Jose

No a wine basket is just what the name says, and holds the bottle on the side so you just have to tip the basket a bit to pour. The cork is drawn with the bottle on the side(it holds the neck of the bottle up just enough so that wine does not pour out when the cork is pulled). Wine baskets often are used in Europe. In restaurants, on can bring a just-ordered bottle up from the cellar in one with much less chance of stirring up sediment than if the bottle has to stand up. Also some restaurents with "airs" have been known to serve ordinary wine without sediment in a fancy wine basket to impress customers, who may not know much about wine, and to justify a higher cost for the wine.

The wine machine is a large cabinet with pressure regulators for nitrogen, etc. that is connected to a large tank of prepurified nitrogen. The wine bottles stand upright in it, and air is displaced out the tap with a large amount of nitrogen before the tap is lowered into the wine by sliding it down the special stopper that has "O" ring seals around the tap tube. When a button on the tap is pressed, the nitrogen under a low regulated pressure allows wine to flow out the tap.

Actually, Richard, I find this to be a positive occurrance. I'll stand the bottle for a couple of days, to allow the looser sediment to settle in the bottom, while the "crust" stays pretty much attached to the side. It is then, USUALLY, easier to decant.

As mentioned elsewhere Port does this, to an extreme. Most VP has a little white-wash mark on it. I always place this UP, when storing, as it indicates the position of the bottle, while stored in the lodge. Again, treating these bottles, as above, makes decanting a bit easier.

For most reds, I store with the label up (works kinda' like the white-wash mark for me), and leave them alone, until I plan on serving them.

Hunt

Thanks. I do agree with your statement here.

I think the friend that told me otherwise...(and the person that got me started on the wine trail over 27 years ago)...is indeed wrong.

The only reason, that I can think of, for turning bottles of red, and hence stirring up the sediment, is if a person appreciates the bitterness and grittiness that would be imparted to the wine by doing so. Sediment is a natural occurrance of the aging of red wines. This sediment is bitter, in taste, and has a powdery grittiness. I feel that it is best separated from the wine, even at the expense of loosing a bit of the liquid, so as leave most in the bottle. My personal taste runs toward actually separating the lees from the wine, by omitting as much as is possible, with the pouring/decanting. Some like to filter the wine, sediment and all, when pouring, but I still find a added bitterness in most of these cases. One friend uses unbleached coffee filters, another a fine silk cloth, but when I do one bottle my way v their methods, I always like my bottle better - bottle variation? I do not know, but I'm batting 100%. Some of the filtering techniques leave wine that is closer to the decanted version, but there is always a hint of off-tastes. The grittiness might not be there, but the bitterness always is, to a degree.

Again, as with most things wine, a personal preference.

Hunt