Purity Myths in Wine (& Language)



Dr. Gill Giese notes how purity myths influence attitudes about wine:

In the attached photo of a couple bottles of rose wine at a local grocery store.  Notice the deposit at the bottom of the bottles on the right. The deposits are potassium-bitartrate salts ("crystals") that have settled out after bottling. This indicates that the wine was not 'cold stabilized' in the winery. The reason for this is the fact that tartaric acid is very soluble in wine but its mono-salt, potassium -bitartrate is less soluble and precipitates during processing due to the presence of alcohol. It is less soluble in wine versus water and this temperature dependent. Subjecting the wine to near freezing temperatures will induce the tartrates to fall out of solution. These precipitates are also known as "cream of tartar".  This stabilization should have been accomplished in the winery by lowering the wine temperature to slightly above freezing and holding there for about 2 weeks prior to bottling. These crystals are perfectly harmless and will not affect the taste or palatability of the wine...no big deal from a consumption point of view...but some consumers (especially Americans) get paranoid about it and reject this aesthetic defect!   

 

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