|
|
| |
|
|
With the increased use of higher end wine kits like the Mosti Mondiale All Juice, RJ Spagnols En Primeur, fresh juice and fresh grapes, more customers are reporting seeing the formation of potassium acid tartrates. These are more commonly referred to as tartrate crystals or just tartrates. They are also called "Wine Diamonds". These occur naturally in wines that are high in tartaric acid when the wines are stored for an extended time in a wine cooler or refrigerator. As such, they appear more in white wines than in reds as most people do not chill their red wines for an extended period.
These tartrates are completely harmless and will not affect the taste or the flavor of the wine and can easily be removed by decanting or poorly slowly. However, they can be considered a flaw in your wine and since most commercial wines are cold stabilized, the majority of wine drinkers has never seen them and may think there is something wrong with their wine. If you give away your wine or enter it into competition, you may want to make sure your wine does not throw these tartrates.
To eliminate the formation of tartrates in the wine bottle, you will need to either cold stabilize your wine or add metatartaric acid. Wineries are prohibited from adding metatartaric acid, so there only answer is cold stabilization. Some of the RJ Spagnols wine kits, especially the En Primeur line includes this acid to add prior to bottling. Since metatartaric acid is not readily available and is only recommended for early drinking wines, this article will focus on cold stabilization.
The difficulty associated with cold stabilization is finding someplace cold enough to cause the formation of the tartrates. If you live in a location that has long cold winters, you can just put your wine outside for several days when it gets below zero. For the rest of us or those wanting to stabilize in warmer months, you must find a place where you can keep the wine chilled for an extended period of time. The best temperatures are 14 -25° for up to 2 weeks. If you can't get your wine that cold, you can go as high as 39°, but you will need to plan on 3 weeks for the tartrates to form. The lower temperature is always more effective and faster.
If you have the space and extra money, the best option for home wine makers is to use a refrigerator with the setting turned as low as it will go or a freezer turned up to 14-25°. This takes up space and will increase your utility bill.
As previously mentioned, this is not something that must be done and can be avoided by NOT storing your wine in the refrigerator for extended time. If you do have tartrates, decant the wine or poor slowly. Tartrates will not affect the taste or the aroma of your wine.
For more information on this subject, read Dan Pambianchi' book "Techniques in Home Wine Making."
|
|
|
|
|
