I'm cold stabilizing my wine this year (because I can - it's freezing out there!), and was curious if I had to rack it off the crystals, or could just wait until my next racking. I've had tartrate in bottles before, but never noticed them return to solution in great quantity once they were re-warmed.
Any ideas?
Rob
I'm bumping this back to the top to see if anyone has an answer since I was wondering the same thing.
Rob wrote:
Mike,
tartrate crystals, once formed, don't return into solution easily, unless you apply extra heat. A certain amount of heat is liberated in their formation and you've gotta supply that energy again to get them to go back. Since tartrate crystals are often found in bottles which have been at room temp for a long time, I'd say that their long term stability is good.
I've never had a noticeable problem with crystals redissolving after cold stabilization, but that's based on casual observation, not careful measurement.
FWIW, it's recommended to let cold stabilized wine return to room temp before racking, to avoid excessive oxygen absorption.
That is my understanding too. The only way I can think of to test it is to stir a carboy of wine and rack it into separate vessels and cold stabilize both. Rack one cold and the other warmed to room temp and measure the results.
Joe
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