wine glasses
What are those little flakes at the bottom of wine glasses after you have your red wine?
I drank some red wine last night and saw these little flakes at the bottom of the glass as I nearly ended my glass.
What you’re describing is normal sediment.
The other answers above are not quite right. The sediment does not come from grape pulp or stuff added to wine during fermentation.
As a red wine matures, the tannins in the wine start to form into larger and larger molecules and polymers until they preciptate out of the liquid and form a solid sediment. This will settle against one side of the bottle and often form into a caked layer. When you open and pour the wine, this layer is disturbed and you may get the flaky pieces in your glass.
Note that even a wine that was filtered before bottling may still throw a sediment after time in the bottle.
They really only cause an esthetic nuisance. If you prefer not to have them, then carefully open your bottle, careful not to disturb the sediment too much, and then pour the wine slowly into a decanter. It’s helpful to place a flashlight under the neck of the decanter or the neck of the wine bottle as you’re pouring and stop as soon as you see sediment.
Cheers!
wine glass music – glass harp (Swan Lake-P. Tchaikovsky)
