wine bottle sediment/storage

wreckinball9 · 10-01-2009, 10:26 PM

how long should/can i keep newly bottled wine upright?

i bottled a couple fruit wines and meads that looked clear. i gave them a day or two upright to work out the trapped oxygen past the cork. they have been on the sides for a couple months now, and there is a line of sediment running up the side of the bottle now.

can you leave the bottles upright for 3 or 4 months after you bottle to make a compact sediment disk on bottle before laying the bottles down?

MyZooTwo · 10-02-2009, 12:03 AM

Hello,
How long did you leave this wine in the secondary how many rackings did you do? Did you degass this wine, there are a lot of factors to answer your question.....
Take care...
Cathy

**Yooper** · 10-02-2009, 01:55 AM

Well, even if you keep the bottles upright for a while, the sediment will move when you lay them down. It's not going to stick where it first settled- it'll move to a gravity dependent area.

As was alluded to, you probably bottled a bit early, and the wine is still throwing lees. It's not harmful. What I would do is set the bottle upright the day before serving, so at least most of the sediment is on the bottom, and then decant the wine before serving so that the sediment stays mostly in the bottle.

wreckinball9 · 10-03-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YooperBrew

Well, even if you keep the bottles upright for a while, the sediment will move when you lay them down. It's not going to stick where it first settled- it'll move to a gravity dependent area.

As was alluded to, you probably bottled a bit early, and the wine is still throwing lees. It's not harmful. What I would do is set the bottle upright the day before serving, so at least most of the sediment is on the bottom, and then decant the wine before serving so that the sediment stays mostly in the bottle.

good advice. thanks yoop