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More about sediment?! - 7/17/2008 9:46:30 PM

gbm

Posts: 229
Joined: 3/12/2008
From: Connecticut
Status: offline

I noticed this evening that the wine I was drinking had very mellow tannins. It was a 2003 SuperTuscan blend. TNs from 2007 and before noted rather sharp tannins. Obviously, the extra year mine had in the cellar may have helped, but the bottle had a thick (1/4 inch) crust of sediment just below and along the bottom of the cork (so dense that I was able to pull it out the top of the bottle without losing any into the wine).

So, getting around to my question, can one consider sediment a sign that a relatively tannic wine has mellowed? Or is it meaningless and I should have another glass and go to bed?

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RE: More about sediment?! - 7/17/2008 11:42:55 PM

Maestro

Posts: 563
Joined: 10/4/2007
Status: offline

Most wine sediment is what is chemically called tartrates. Both those little crystals that one finds around the cork, as well as the sediment at the bottom of a bottle of older wine are tartrates.

Tartrates are a potassium salt of tartaric acid, in which a certain amount of tannins gets bound (this is usually called "precipitated tannins"). When tannins get precipitated (bound to the tartrate sediment) you can no longer feel those tannins in the body of the wine.

Hence, a high level of tartrates in wine does indicate that the wine is “evolved” , which in this case means less tannic.

< Message edited by Maestro -- 7/17/2008 11:45:23 PM >

(in reply to gbm)

Post #: 2