"Hunt" wrote in message
...
In article . com,
says...



Hunt wrote:
In article ,
says
...

Are they a sign of a poor wine?
I find them unpleasant, and wasteful if you have
to leave some in the bottle to avoid them.


Interested

They are not a sign of bad wine, nor are they necessarily a sign of good
wine.
They, the lees/sediment are, in short, a natural percipitating out of
solids
in the wine.

Yes, it can be disconcerting to have to leave some wine in the bottle to
keep
the sediment from being poured into the glass, but that is just the way
it
is.
Careful decanting goes a long way toward getting the most wine separated
from
the lees. And, yes, the sediment is not very pleasant, usually quite
bitter.

They are one of the reasons that the bottles of wine, likely to throw
sediment, are shaped as they are, with sharp shoulders. Wines, like
Pinot
Noir, are more often packaged into bottles with sloping shoulders, as
they
are
less likely to throw sediment. Still, when pouring a PN, especially an
older
one, or a heavily extracted one from the US, it is wise to watch the
wine
being poured, so no sediment passes from the bottle.

Hunt

A few people will actually look for sediment. It's a sign that the wine
was not "fined" which is sometimes done with egg whites. Vegans don't
want this.

Dan-O

Had not thought about the vegans, being a carnivore myself, but I see your
good point. Also, unfiltered, unfined whites will often yield lees, and
other
light colored sediment, as they percipitate out, though they seem far less
offensive to my palette than the lees from reds.

Hunt

Thanks to all.
As a newcomer to wines, and having spoiled expectations of technology, I
"expect" my foods and liquids to demand nothing but my tastebuds.
Perhaps I should rethink. Perhaps it's a good experience to see that
something
is still produced as it was long ago.
Some of the sediment is dark coloured and of sand grain size as mentioned,
and
some of it was reminiscent of egg white crystals which really turned me off.
Knowing it was nothing that should not have been there is a blessing.
I still remember the scare stories about Austrian wines, and before that
Italian
wines.

--
Interested