Wine Diamonds
Is there something wrong with my wine?
Every seen this clear sediment at the bottom of your white wine/rose bottle?
Don’t you fret, you are safe.
Wine Diamonds, AKA; Wine Crystals, Tartrate Crystals, Potassium Bicarbonate, are harmless compounds that can form in wine. Usually when bottles haven’t been cold stabilized.
Cold stabilizing wine is the process of cooling down the wine to near freezing temperatures for a few days or weeks, in order to encourage the wine crystals to form while still in the winery. Once they form, the crystals are filtered out. Pretty much just making the wine more “polished” for mass markets.
The crystals form when tartaric acid (one of wines’ primary acids) binds with potassium and precipitates out of the liquid.
If the wine is chilled during storage, transport or in your fridge, the compounds can solidify and form crystals and settle at the bottom of the bottle or sometimes the cork.
They’re more common in white wines, but red wines can have them too.
Are they bad? Nope, totally natural and perfectly safe. They’re a sign of minimal intervention and more common in wines from cooler climates or those made with less manipulation.
If I see them, it’s usually a good sign.
I don’t really care to eat them, but some people get very excited to do so.
It’s all preference. They’re not bad, they’re flavorless.
I’m just not a big fan of the mix of textures.
Try them for yourself next time you see them!
Cheers!