When serving a bottle of my 2003 Seyval Blanc the other night, I noticed
crystal-like deposits in the bottle. They were not there prior to chilling.
I have seen this before in earlier years and to the best of my memory is a
result of some acid in the wine and is harmless. I filtered the wine before
bottling. Is this a result of the chilling and would cold stabilization
prior to bottling remove the crystals from the wine. I hope to offer this
wine to the public in the future but this formation in the bottle might
freak people out. Any help or comments would be appreciated

In article >, "Randall Hamilton" > wrote:
>When serving a bottle of my 2003 Seyval Blanc the other night, I noticed
>crystal-like deposits in the bottle. They were not there prior to chilling.
>I have seen this before in earlier years and to the best of my memory is a
>result of some acid in the wine and is harmless. I filtered the wine before
>bottling. Is this a result of the chilling and would cold stabilization
>prior to bottling remove the crystals from the wine. I hope to offer this
>wine to the public in the future but this formation in the bottle might
>freak people out. Any help or comments would be appreciated
>

Probably tartaric acid, which isn't nearly as soluble in cold wine as it is at
room temperature. Cold stabilization will precipitate the crystals. Then you
can rack the wine off of the precipitate, and bottle it with little fear that
the crystals will return.

--
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

"Randall Hamilton" > wrote in message
...
> When serving a bottle of my 2003 Seyval Blanc the other night, I noticed
> crystal-like deposits in the bottle. They were not there prior to
chilling.
> I have seen this before in earlier years and to the best of my memory is a
> result of some acid in the wine and is harmless. I filtered the wine
before
> bottling. Is this a result of the chilling and would cold stabilization
> prior to bottling remove the crystals from the wine. I hope to offer this
> wine to the public in the future but this formation in the bottle might
> freak people out. Any help or comments would be appreciated
>
>
Randall,
You are correct. The crystals (cream of tartar) are completely harmless.
But, sometimes consumers see the crystals and think there are bits of broken
glass in the wine. There is info on cold stabilization here
http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt15.html