Jose wrote:
> What are your thoughts on decanting for sediment? Sometimes I get a
> bottle that has thrown just a bit of sediment (just enough to see; maybe
> several pinheads worth) and I wonder if it's worth decanting for that.
> Certainly if there is a significant amount I'd decant (maybe the area of
> a thumbnail on the side of the bottle).
>
> What does sediment do to the taste of red wines?

Sediment from red wines can taste bitter to many people. This is most
likely to be noticed for full red wines with harsh tannins that require
some age to soften and that often throw quite a bit of sediment. If the
sedimet is fine, it may make the wine somewhat cloudy, and that bothers
some people. In the 1800s many wines were somewhat cloudy, but that
often was not noticed because wine glasses often were colored, heavily
cut, enameled, had gold applied, etc.I would say the tolerance for
sediment in a wine is likely to vary quite a bit from person to person.

Decanting is not the only way to control sediment. If the sediment is
rather heavy, just standing the bottle up for a while and then pouring
carefully often avoids the sediment, except for the last portion of the
wine. A wine basket and careful technique allows pulling the cork and
pouring wine without disturbing the sediment. I have even seen a
mechanical device that clamps the bottle and slowly tilts it to pour as
a crank is turned. I believe such devices were sometimes used in France
in the 1800s. There was even a special version that was made for those
huge Champagne bottles that can hold 16 or more normal bottles of
Champagne. Some of the wine machines that preserve and dispense wine
using an inert gas have tap tubes that can be adjusted just above the
sediment in the wine to avoid it.