What's That "Gunk" in my Wine?

[Ladera Dan]

This is definitely sediment that comes from a unfiltered and most likely unfined wine. Also like previously stated it is usually in heavier varietals. We are mainly a Cabernet house and see this a lot for we do not filter or fine our wines. We have also found that it has something to do with vintage too, in that some vintages tend to throw more sediment than others. As far as it being right by the cork that just means that it was stored well. When we bottle our wines they are placed in the case upside down for we do not want the corks to dry out and eventually ruin the wine. Also when you do not filter or fine the wine the only way to clean out some of the sediment is to "rack" it. That is taking the wine out of the barrel and literally cleaning out the sediment that has fallen to the bottom of the barrel. We do this at least three times a year if not more. This is also good from the blending aspect in that during racking you get to combine all of that barrels of a lot together and thus you get a more round taste profile at the end. All in all I believe that seeing sediment of this kind is nothing but a good thing and is usually a sign of a higher quality wine, or at least a wine that someone took the time to make.