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I made some wine recently, and I screwed up slightly. I degassed the wine the day I was going to bottle. I let it sit a couple hours expecting the sediment to settle after I "blended" the wine, significantly disturbing it. I guess I should have let it sit after that for days, rather than hours.

Anyway, what's done is done, and I have wine that has a lot of sediment in it. When drinking it, almost the whole bottom half of the bottle is undrinkable! It tastes fine, but the sediment feel is a tad overbearing. So what do I do?

Should I get a decantur with a sediment filter? Should I just strain it through cheesecloth or something finer when I serve/pour it? What's finer than cheesecloth and found easily?

Any thoughts would be appreciated; I'm tired of not enjoying the fruits of my labor.

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If it's just a little (a few centimetres) sediment at the bottom, then I'd say to just pour slowly when you near the bottom of the bottle, and try to avoid shaking/disturbing the bottle too much when handling and transporting. Wine I've bought commercially sometimes has sediment and as long as you're careful, it's not a major problem.

If it really is as much as you say (half a bottle?!) then it might be better to filter it carefully when you serve. Cheese cloth might be OK, a coffee filter is much finer (but much slower). If it's so much that it's hard to pour without disturbing the sediment, you could siphon to a new bottle (again, slow and careful), and then serve from that one. Of course this will probably oxidize the wine, so you'd only want to do this before serving (maybe an hour or two?). I'm not sure what the risk is of leaving wine on that much sediment for long periods (in case you aren't planning to use it in the near future).

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  • The sediment isn't visible in the bottle. It hasn't "dropped" out, it's still in the liquid giving it a viscous quality.
    – Landon
    May 21, 2013 at 16:23
  • @Landon: Then you'll just have to wait for it to settle to the bottom. I'd say at least a few days, possibly a week.
    – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
    May 21, 2013 at 17:08
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I go through this with many gallons of wine in our kegs. In time, all sediment drops out, most within 1 week of transfer. This might seem too obvious and simple, but you must give it time. Any more "movement" and you will get more oxidation than you want.

Rajanatha Head Brewer of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

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