Well, somehow I managed to not get all the lees out of my beautiful peach
wine before bottling. I usually bottle one bottle's worth of each batch in
a clear bottle, and I happened to notice a very small amount of sediment at
the bottom of it the other day, when I pulled it out to admire it. It's not
much, but enough to put a very thin layer on the bottom of the bottle when
it's upright.

It sat in a secondary for 6 months and was bottled about 6 weeks ago. My
question is: should I rack all 18 bottles back into a glass carboy, let it
settle, then re-bottle, or should I just let it rest and deal with the
sediment in a year or so when it's ready to drink? Which has the great
chance of adversely effecting the taste?
Thanks in advance
Nathan

I would not recommend that you dump it out of the bottles. Just live with
it. Keep a bottle or two sitting upright so you will always have some that
the sediment has settled to the bottom. Then when you are going to drink it
be gentle so as not to disturb the sediment and decant carefully when
pouring. If you are careful you will not lose more than a half inch in each
bottle. It is not really that unusual of an occurrence and it is not the
end of the world.

Ray

"stilettorain" > wrote in message
link.net...
> Well, somehow I managed to not get all the lees out of my beautiful peach
> wine before bottling. I usually bottle one bottle's worth of each batch
in
> a clear bottle, and I happened to notice a very small amount of sediment
at
> the bottom of it the other day, when I pulled it out to admire it. It's
not
> much, but enough to put a very thin layer on the bottom of the bottle when
> it's upright.
>
> It sat in a secondary for 6 months and was bottled about 6 weeks ago. My
> question is: should I rack all 18 bottles back into a glass carboy, let it
> settle, then re-bottle, or should I just let it rest and deal with the
> sediment in a year or so when it's ready to drink? Which has the great
> chance of adversely effecting the taste?
> Thanks in advance
> Nathan
>
>
>
>

"stilettorain" > wrote in message
link.net...
> Well, somehow I managed to not get all the lees out of my beautiful peach
> wine before bottling. I usually bottle one bottle's worth of each batch
in
> a clear bottle, and I happened to notice a very small amount of sediment
at
> the bottom of it the other day, when I pulled it out to admire it. It's
not
> much, but enough to put a very thin layer on the bottom of the bottle when
> it's upright.
>
> It sat in a secondary for 6 months and was bottled about 6 weeks ago. My
> question is: should I rack all 18 bottles back into a glass carboy, let it
> settle, then re-bottle, or should I just let it rest and deal with the
> sediment in a year or so when it's ready to drink? Which has the great
> chance of adversely effecting the taste?
> Thanks in advance
> Nathan

Nathan,

I'd suggest letting it go. The work and risk involved in decanting all of
your bottles and fining or aging further probably will exceed the impact to
your presentation of a small amount of lees in the bottle. And your peach
wine will _taste_ just fine regardless of a small amount of lees in the
bottle. In the future you might bulk age a bit longer, I usually go 9-12
months before bottling. Some wines, especially whites, seem to appear
crystal but will continue to throw lees in the bottle. Racking a month or
so before bottling will help you judge how much lees remain, as racking
seems to instigate some immediate lees production in a wine that still has
lees left to throw. Just remember that every wine will throw some amount of
lees unless filtered, and don't worry about a small amount of lees.


--
Cheers,
Ken

Thanks all,
I'll live with it for now.

So longer than 6 months in the secondary? Hmmm. I've been working out of
just one simple book that only suggested longer for meads...

Thanks again!!!
Nate


"Oberon" > wrote in message
...
>
> "stilettorain" > wrote in message
> link.net...
> > Well, somehow I managed to not get all the lees out of my beautiful
peach
> > wine before bottling. I usually bottle one bottle's worth of each batch
> in
> > a clear bottle, and I happened to notice a very small amount of sediment
> at
> > the bottom of it the other day, when I pulled it out to admire it. It's
> not
> > much, but enough to put a very thin layer on the bottom of the bottle
when
> > it's upright.
> >
> > It sat in a secondary for 6 months and was bottled about 6 weeks ago.
My
> > question is: should I rack all 18 bottles back into a glass carboy, let
it
> > settle, then re-bottle, or should I just let it rest and deal with the
> > sediment in a year or so when it's ready to drink? Which has the great
> > chance of adversely effecting the taste?
> > Thanks in advance
> > Nathan
>
> Nathan,
>
> I'd suggest letting it go. The work and risk involved in decanting all of
> your bottles and fining or aging further probably will exceed the impact
to
> your presentation of a small amount of lees in the bottle. And your peach
> wine will _taste_ just fine regardless of a small amount of lees in the
> bottle. In the future you might bulk age a bit longer, I usually go 9-12
> months before bottling. Some wines, especially whites, seem to appear
> crystal but will continue to throw lees in the bottle. Racking a month or
> so before bottling will help you judge how much lees remain, as racking
> seems to instigate some immediate lees production in a wine that still has
> lees left to throw. Just remember that every wine will throw some amount
of
> lees unless filtered, and don't worry about a small amount of lees.
>
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Ken
>
>

I wouldn't rebottle. I do get from time to time a little dusting of lees in
my bottles - and this is from 7 months of bulk aging before bottling. As
others pointed out, if you let your wine age more in the bulk container, and
then rack again this should help decrease the amount. As an example, I did
receive a bottle of homemade grape wine for Christmas with about 1/2 inch of
lees. Later on I found out the wine had been bottled at 3 months or
earlier. Naturally, the wine didn't have time to age and drop enough
sediment. However, the giver of the wine didn't care, so whom am I to
complain - I am thinking of decanting the bottle, topping up with red wine,
bottling it again and letting it sit.
Darlene

"stilettorain" > wrote in message
link.net...
> Well, somehow I managed to not get all the lees out of my beautiful peach
> wine before bottling. I usually bottle one bottle's worth of each batch
in
> a clear bottle, and I happened to notice a very small amount of sediment
at
> the bottom of it the other day, when I pulled it out to admire it. It's
not
> much, but enough to put a very thin layer on the bottom of the bottle when
> it's upright.
>
> It sat in a secondary for 6 months and was bottled about 6 weeks ago. My
> question is: should I rack all 18 bottles back into a glass carboy, let it
> settle, then re-bottle, or should I just let it rest and deal with the
> sediment in a year or so when it's ready to drink? Which has the great
> chance of adversely effecting the taste?
> Thanks in advance
> Nathan
>
>
>
>

"Dar V" > wrote in message
...
> I am thinking of decanting the bottle, topping up with red wine,
> bottling it again and letting it sit.

I'd just let it age out the way it is and decant it just before serving.
The extra handling wouldn't likely do it any good.

Tom S

Really Tom...? I've left it alone, because I really didn't want to mess
with it. But I was thinking about it. Wouldn't that much lees give it some
off-tastes? This bottle of wine was made from actual grapes, and it is a
red. Thanks in advance.
Darlene

"Tom S" > wrote in message
. com...
>
> "Dar V" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I am thinking of decanting the bottle, topping up with red wine,
> > bottling it again and letting it sit.
>
> I'd just let it age out the way it is and decant it just before serving.
> The extra handling wouldn't likely do it any good.
>
> Tom S
>
>

"Dar V" > wrote in message
...
> Really Tom...? I've left it alone, because I really didn't want to mess
> with it. But I was thinking about it. Wouldn't that much lees give it
some
> off-tastes?

If it hasn't already gone reductive it probably won't. Still, it's _your_
bottle...

BTW, you should try to edjumicate those dudes on the finer points of
racking! ;^D

Tom S

Thanks. I'm so busy with my own batches, that I'm not worrying to much
about this particular bottle. As to passing on some of the finer points of
racking, well, I'm working on it discreetly. I sent a subscription of
Winemaker to him for Christmas. And I'm hoping that once he sees how much
sediment is in the rest of his bottles, he'll figure it out....
;o)
Darlene

"Tom S" > wrote in message
om...
>
> "Dar V" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Really Tom...? I've left it alone, because I really didn't want to mess
> > with it. But I was thinking about it. Wouldn't that much lees give it
> some
> > off-tastes?
>
> If it hasn't already gone reductive it probably won't. Still, it's _your_
> bottle...
>
> BTW, you should try to edjumicate those dudes on the finer points of
> racking! ;^D
>
> Tom S
>
>

I know very little about all this, but seems to me the goal is to
make something drinkable. who cares what it looks like. If it's
safe and tastes ok to YOU, that's all that counts.

put the effort you would spend bottling twice into something more
useful. start another batch or something.

--
billb

I really don't think it will hurt it to re-rack, settle and re-bottle
as long as you don't do a lot of splashing. I had a Riesling that I
wanted to give mostly a gifts that I did this exact thing to and it
still got great reviews.

I should point out that I didn't redo the bottles I planned to drink
myself. I don't think a little bit of sediment will be a problem if
the appearance doesn't bother you or your giftees.

I appreciate all the input on the gift bottle of red wine I received. I
think it is always a matter of a person's preference - I would not give a
bottle of wine with 1/2 inch of sediment in it. Call it a quirk, but if I'm
going to give a gift of wine to someone, I want it to taste good and look
good. I can live with a dusting of sediment, but a whole bunch bothers me.
It bothers me, because the wine would be much better without it, and I would
really like to taste & appreciate this homemade grape wine which was given
to me. I also hate to waste stuff too. I've made wine which I don't like,
or doesn't come out maybe the way I want it too, but at least I took the
time to rack and age, and try to do produce an enjoyable wine to drink.
That's not to say, that this wine won't taste good either. I'll probably
just open the bottle, decant it, and try it.
Darlene

"Miker" > wrote in message
om...
> I really don't think it will hurt it to re-rack, settle and re-bottle
> as long as you don't do a lot of splashing. I had a Riesling that I
> wanted to give mostly a gifts that I did this exact thing to and it
> still got great reviews.
>
> I should point out that I didn't redo the bottles I planned to drink
> myself. I don't think a little bit of sediment will be a problem if
> the appearance doesn't bother you or your giftees.