When serving a bottle of my 2003 Seyval Blanc the other night, I noticed crystal-like deposits in the bottle. They were not there prior to chilling. I have seen this before in earlier years and to the best of my memory is a result of some acid in the wine and is harmless. I filtered the wine before bottling. Is this a result of the chilling and would cold stabilization prior to bottling remove the crystals from the wine. I hope to offer this wine to the public in the future but this formation in the bottle might freak people out. Any help or comments would be appreciated
preventing crystals in wine
Feb 08, 2004
2 Replies
Probably tartaric acid, which isn't nearly as soluble in cold wine as it is at room temperature. Cold stabilization will precipitate the crystals. Then you can rack the wine off of the precipitate, and bottle it with little fear that the crystals will return.
-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?
Randall, You are correct. The crystals (cream of tartar) are completely harmless. But, sometimes consumers see the crystals and think there are bits of broken glass in the wine. There is info on cold stabilization here
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