Sanitary Racking

How critical is sanitation when racking wine from a primary to secondary or when racking it off sediment? In the past I have used my thumb to plug the bottom of the hose when priming it and I have heard of people suck priming their hoses. Is its offered some protection from the alcohol in it?

It's very important, as you don't have excess yeast in suspension working actively to outcompete any bacteria, although the alcohol levels in wine are typically enough to keep most nasties at bay. I would really suggest being as sanitary as possible. Get an autosiphon for $15 and never look back.

Yeah for sure don't use the suck method. There are much better ways of transferring, what are you using for fermentors?

I used a plain racking cane until recently.
Using hot tap water after sanitizing to start the transfer.
I did this for over 2 years without issues.
I recently was forced to purchase a auto siphon, my kids ran off with the bottom of the racking cane, and wish I had done so sooner.

Can't recommend getting an auto-siphon enough. Limits the risk of contamination (not that it's too high with wine,) oxidizing (since you usually get a strong flow off the 1st pump - and if you get a long enough hose to rest on the bottom of the bottling bucket you'll be golden.) I just used one with my neighbor when we bottled a batch of beer we'd brewed together and he was floored at how much easier it was than the methods he had been using.

Thanks guys for all the replies. I've been using a combination of a cane and a little hand pump, doesn't work that great though. Ill look into an auto siphon. I have a 6.5 gal bucket for a primary and a 6.5 gal glass carboy as a secondary.