How To Keep Sediment Out of Your Wine Glass

Ever see little crystals or flakes in your bottle (like those pesky grounds in your morning coffee)? Here's a Bordeaux blend I recently opened for context:

​That’s wine sediment — and it’s completely harmless!

Wine sediment is either tartrate crystals (aka wine diamonds) or dead yeast (aka lees), which are natural byproducts in winemaking.

And even though sediment is safe to drink, you may not want it in your glass! So, for today’s wine recommendation, here are 5 steps for keeping sediment out of your wine glass:

  1. First, if you have sediment at the neck of the bottle upon opening (pictured above), you can simply remove it using a cloth

  2. Use a decanter! Pour the wine into the decanter at an angle. Keep the bottom of the bottle low to keep the sediment from reaching the neck of the bottle

  3. Pour slowly

  4. If sediment starts reaching the top of the bottle, stop pouring and tilt the bottle upright to let the sediment settle to the bottom again… Then repeat the above steps Tip: you can even hold a flashlight to the neck of the bottle as you pour to clearly see the flow of sediment from the bottle to the decanter

  5. Once the wine is in the decanter, you should be good to pour the wine into your glass!

I hope you find this helpful, and happy drinking!

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Wine Pairing Recipe: Tannic Wines + Lamb Chops with Herbed Goat Cheese Couscous