Angelica sediment

[Benbo]

I recently noticed quite a lot of sediment in a bottle of V. Sattui Angelica I've been keeping. Most is collected at the bottom, but there's a fair amount of of gunk floating around higher up in the bottle.

I have seen discussions elsewhere of decanting to remove sediment in much older wines, but this bottle was purchased just two years ago. For the last two years it has been "stored" vertically in a kitchen cabinet. (Can you tell I'm not an especially sophisticated wine drinker?)

What does this mean? Is it normal for an Angelica this young to have gunk? Is the cork disintegrating? Is the wine still good? Do I pour this without concern for the floating silt and just try to avoid the junk at the bottom, or should I decant or filter it somehow?

Thank you!

[Thomas]

Unless it is unfiltered, a two-year-old wine should cast off little, if any, sediment.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 06-25-2002).]

[Kcwhippet]

Benbo,

You purchased the wine two years ago, but what's the vintage date on the bottle. I got some Trentadue about three years ago, and it doesn't have any sediment. This one's from the 1973 vintage. Maybe the storage conditions could have affected it.

[Benbo]

No vintage date appears anywhere on the bottle. V. Sattui does not appear to put years on its Angelica or Madiera.

[Innkeeper]

Because of the stuff floating on top, would pour the whole bottle through a non-toxic (yes some are) coffee filter into a carafe. You will lose a small amount of totality of the wine, but what you will have left will be clear, and free of sediment and wherever else. If you don't drink it all in one sitting, cover carafe tightly with several folds of plastic wrap held in place with rubber band; and then finish it up soon.

[Thomas]

...gee, that sounds like work...I'll stick with the real Port and Madeira.

[Botafogo]

When I was the Beverage Director at Antoine's in N'Awlins we went through about five bottles of vintage port a day by the glass and we used to strain them through cheesecloth into a decanter to serve the customers then make "Smoors d'Or" by smearing the residue on pound cake and sandwiching vanilla custard ice cream between the slices.....mmmmmmmm goooooood.

There is a reason they have an official holiday there called Southern Decadence Day!


Braaaaaaassssiiiiilllllllll! Robertinho