Sediment in a young screwcapped wine

Last night I opened a Gemtree (Australia) 2003 Petit Verdot.

This wine is not particularly old but there was already sediment in the bottle and in my final glass, pictured.

sediment2.jpg

sediment1.jpg

I thought it interesting to post these two views of that final glass in view of the current discussion on ageing and closures. This wine has definitely aged, it is throwing deposit.

The wine was closed with a Savin screwcap.

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see why sedimentation should be any different under screwcap...

[David M. Bueker]

Also it may just be totally unfined and unfiltered with lots of solids left in suspension at bottling.

I don't necessarily see this as an aging characteristic absent other factors.

We've found that much sediment in a three year old Dolcetto, closed with a cork.

Also it may just be totally unfined and unfiltered with lots of solids left in suspension at bottling.

I don't necessarily see this as an aging characteristic absent other factors.

What David said.

Tasted a lot of local reds when in the Loire this month - found several from the 2005 and 2002 vintages, bottled under cork, with piles more sediment than this. As David says, it's not unusual and reflects crystallisation of solids in a wine which has not been filtered or cold stabilised.

I hear what you are saying. Whether this wine was filtered or not I don't know, but I associate dropping of sediment with aging.

When I open an old wine with lots of sediment I take that to be an effect of aging.

Are you saying that it is not?

Sediment can be caused by all of the factors outlined above vs just age. IMHO.

[David M. Bueker]

I hear what you are saying. Whether this wine was filtered or not I don't know, but I associate dropping of sediment with aging.

When I open an old wine with lots of sediment I take that to be an effect of aging.

Are you saying that it is not?

It is, but there can be "gross" sediment that falls out early as well.

I hear what you are saying. Whether this wine was filtered or not I don't know, but I associate dropping of sediment with aging.

When I open an old wine with lots of sediment I take that to be an effect of aging.

Are you saying that it is not?

As others have said, it is not, at least not necessarily. Especially if a red wine is unfined/unfiltered but even if it is fined and filtered, many (maybe most) reds are not cold-stabilized and, depending on their chemistry, are inclined to "throw" tartrate crystals, especially if exposed to low temperatures. If you're inclined to experiment, many red wines will do this if you put them in the refrigerator for a few days - no age necessary. It could be that this wine was chilled somewhere along the line or it could be that it's just especially prone to precipitating tartrates and did so at cellar temperature.

I'll pile on.

I've seen this in many a young wine bottled with a cork closure. Wines that are not fined or filtered (a big fad in some parts of New World winemaking) are particularly prone to throw a sediment when young. I think the screwcap closure is irrelevant here.

-Paul W.