Wootoff

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Didn't check last night before going to bed or I would have noted it then.

Should be easy to avoid damage. After getting the flood of wine the last couple of weeks from the end of summer shipping holds, I did an inventory of all of the wines I've got right now and got it all organized on Cellar Tracker. Found I had a lot more stashed away than I remembered. Almost two cases of stuff that I thought I had consumed all of, only to discover I still had bottles that I had set aside for later.

So now I"m in a pretty strict moratorium - has to be something that screams to be be bought.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I just saw your post. I have not been on line all day to much going around in circles

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Bought some of the Copa del Rey chardonnay. DW likes chardonnay, and I only have one bottle of everyday chard. So that will fit in for her.

When I've had this in the past, I've noticed that if there's a bottle of it in the refrigerator when I leave on a business trip it's usually gone when I return. So although she would never say to me "Get more of that", I can tell that when she makes an unfettered choice, that's one of the ones that she goes for.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Steve you better use up all of That Taurus. I have 3 left but the last 2 I opened were full of sediment. I am going to drink 2 soon and save one for my Birthday in May

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Steve you better use up all of That Taurus. I have 3 left but the last 2 I opened were full of sediment. I am going to drink 2 soon and save one for my Birthday in May

Is that sediment or wine diamonds (tartaric acid crystals)? Mine have had wine diamonds and there is nothing at all a problem with having wine diamonds. In fact, there are some who consider wine diamonds to be a good sign for a wine.

Tartaric Crystals in Wine: the "Wine Diamonds" of Quality

There is another interesting correlation between wine stones and the quality of a wine: the longer the grapes hang on the vine (familiarly called hang time), the more wine acid will accumulate in the grape, and it is this wine acid which is the building block of wine diamonds. Furthermore, the more time the wine is given to ferment, the less wine diamonds will fall out during fermentation, but the more they will instead build up later in the bottle.

In other words, wine diamonds are an indicator that the grapes ripened for a long time, and that the winemaker fermented the wine slowly and with great care. Both are important precursors to crafting high quality wines.

Hans Gsellmann, head winemaker of the famous Gsellmann & Gsellmann winery in Austria, explains it this way: Part of the grapes acid are tartrates, aka salt. As the wine ripens these tartaric acid crystals fall out. Its a natural process a wine will go through on its path to the peak of its development. When you see these flakes at the bottom of the bottle or on the cork, you can be almost certain that you are opening the wine at the right time. You should consider yourself lucky.

Wine aficionados in the Old World are known to seek out the bottles with wine stones as a sign of quality: it shows that the wine has not been robbed of its structure through unnatural chilling, and it is a sign of a well-matured wine. Perhaps it is due to the longer history of winemaking in these countries that people have become accustomed to wine stones and seem to accept them. At least they seem to know that, if anything, the wine diamonds will have added roundness to the wine by subtracting some of the acid from it.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Steve you better use up all of That Taurus. I have 3 left but the last 2 I opened were full of sediment. I am going to drink 2 soon and save one for my Birthday in May

BTW - I only have two Taurus left. I did get a shipment in of the 2006 Marco Real, which is another good buy. The Marco Real is 40% Cab Sauv, so it's got a different profile from the 100% temrpranillo of the Taurus.