New World - Old World Sediment

[Innkeeper]

In red New World wines I rarely find sediment; unless it is a ten or twelve year old California Cabernet or Australian Shiraz, and then not always. The '81 Optima we recently popped had no sediment. Old World wines regularly throw it. This is most common in Italian wine, even when they are just two or three years from harvest. It also regularly occurs in Burgundy, Rhone, Bordeaux, Spanish, and Portuguese wines. Is there something basic in the winemaking process that causes this difference?

[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 10-12-2001).]

[Thomas]

IK, ultra-filtration might be the answer, and maybe centrifugal force as well. Left Coast is known for all that high-tech stuff. Some wines are run through a centrifuge in an attempt to eliminate all micro-particles.