Sediment at the bottom of the bottle

[JimmyJ]

forgive me, I am a new wine drinker!

I just opened a bottle of 2000 Syrah, and the cork was encrusted with a crystalline substance like sugar, and the bottom of the bottle was muddied with more of the same.

What is this, and is it normal? Or did I get a bad bottle? [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/confused.gif[/img]

Thanks,

JimmyJ

[Kcwhippet]

Those are potassium bitartrate crystals. Tartrates are naturally ocurring and they are completely harmless. They show up when a bottle of wine has been cooled down enough to cause the tartrate to precipitate out as crystals. A lot of wineries actually cool down their wines and remove the tartrates before bottling. They then sell the stuff which is cleaned up and ground into a powder, then sold in supermarkets as cream of tartar.

[JimmyJ]

Thanks Kcwhippet -

After posting, I continued searching the NG and found that tidbit of information (I guess I should have searched better first!).

The other posts that I found mentioned that these tartrates are pink in colour in reds; however, in the bottle I had they were deep red, almost black, and grainy.

Even though these are "harmless", they sure look nasty when you finish the last glass! I would be embarassed if a guest found it in his/her last sip...I guess I should look into decantering? I've never considered it before, nor even knew what it was...so I'm off to search past posts!

Thanks again,
JimmyJ.

[Innkeeper]

When I find dark red stuff in the bottom of the bottle I can't tell if it is tartrates or sediment. So, I get rid of them either by careful pouring or by filtering the last fourth or third of the bottle.