What's That "Gunk" in my Wine?

[Alsatian]

I was very pleased to have received a lengthy response from the head winemaker at R.Merlo, who in summary explained that their wines were unfiltered at the time and the "sludge" was simple tartrate crystals mixed with heavier tannins that fell out of solution with age. He went oon to explain that The sludge is quite common with older unfiltered wines especially with heavy tannin varieties like Syrah. A similar response was posted earlier which certainly demonstrates the level of experience and expertise of those on this forum. I have six more bottle of this fine wine and in the future will employ some of the filtration suggestions at time of decanting. Thanks again to all who offered advice/information.