What's That "Gunk" in my Wine?

[Alsatian]

Hello, first post here. At any rate, I picked up a few bottles of 2002 R. Merlo Syrah at considerably below MSRP. In any case, decided to open a bottle to pair with my roasted lamb thanksgiving dinner. In any case, upon popping the cork a "grape mud" of sorts followed corkscrew out of the bottle. At first the sight horrified me, as in 20 years of wine hunting/drinking, etc, I've never seen this phenomenon before. Despite the unappealing nature of this "stuff" I decided to decant a few ounces. the aroma was very nice, dried cherry, plum, currant, oak. The taste was big, lots of fruit up front followed by heavy tannins and a long, lingering finish. I was fairly impressed. Has anyone experienced anything like this before? This was much, much more than the occasional sediment one sees in aged reds, I'm talking a tablespoon full of mud! Thanks.

[wineguruchgo]

Hey there! Welcome to the wineboard! We're glad you're here!

Were there little crystals on the cork? If so, it's tartrites and this can happen with extreme temperature changes (hot to cold to hot).

You will see this far more in the "winter months" where some trucks are heated and others are not. The same will happen in summer when some trucks have A/C and others don't.

I'm sure it affects the wines in some way, but I'm such a lush that it doesn't bother me!

Others might have other reasons for this happening. So long as you enjoyed it, I'm just going to commend you for decanting it and enjoying it!

[This message has been edited by wineguruchgo (edited 11-24-2007).]

[Drew]

It was sediment, and when you find this filter with a strainer or coffee filter with no negative consequences. I've seen this often and it's no big deal unless you're someplace where it's difficult to decant and filter. You probably got one of the last bottlings from the barrel.

Drew

[Kcwhippet]

I suspect it was probably tannin sediment. Tannins start life chemically as short chain polymers. As wine rests over time in the bottle - and yours are from 2002 - the short chains realign into long chain polymers. When they do that, they kind of surround and capture some other solid components (including any of those tartrate crystals) into their mesh and finally become so heavy they fall out of suspension. When the bottle is resting on its side (as it should be for a long period), all that gunk lines up along the side of the bottle that's on the bottom, as well as around and on the cork. Some winemakers don't fine or filter before bottling, so you can count on those wines to throw sediment after a few years of rest. David Coffaro's wines, among many others, are notorious for this trait, but we take that into account when we open the bottle.

[Innkeeper]

KC spells it out precisely. As soon as I find gunk sticking to the cork like you did, I reach for my decanter filter. Sometimes instead of the cork you can see pieces sticking to the sides of the bottle.

If this only happens to you once in a great while, pour as much of the wine as necessary through a coffee filter. If it crops up regularly, invest in a decanter filter. Good ones run $25-$30. The first time you save an expensive wine with one, it pays for itself.

[Alsatian]

Thanks very much for the replies, quite informative.

[wdonovan]

Undoubtedly from a distributor who stores his cases upside down. That's why it's not seen more often.

[hotwine]

I used a bandana to filter crumbled cork out of a 1980 Ch. Lafite Rothschild a few years back. Worked just fine. WSJ wine writers seemed to get a chuckle out of it at the time.

[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.

[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.

[gr8withage]

I have never even heard of this happening before.

[mrdutton]

I turn my bottles 45 degrees every year, that way the sediment and the dust coat the inside and the outside of the bottle evenly. (GRIN)

A week ago I opened a 1996 Pahlmeyer Merlot after letting it sit upright for 24 hours. I'd gently wiped the dust off the bottle before I set it upright. The sediment settled to the bottom of the bottle and I did not bother to decant it. But each glass was poured gently and carefully. No gunk until the last glass.

My storage is not ideal. As I was removing the cork it broke in half along the horizontal. So I just gently reinserted the screw and pulled the remainder out in one piece.

The wine was bright dark ruby red, no sign of brown edges at all. Nice clarity in my first pour, I could read a newspaper through the glass. Didn't check the other three pours, didn't care.

I don't have detailed tasting notes, but I know I enjoyed drinking it. All the way down until the gunk and then I stopped and rinsed out the glass.

Still have a couple left and then on to the 1994 Carfaro Merlot ........ and then the 1990 Burgess CS.....



[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 01-09-2008).]