Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Volga Bam here. Have you ever
Speaker 1: ended up with tiny crystals sprouting out of your wine
Speaker 1: cork or settling at the bottom of your wine bottle?
Speaker 1: Don't worry. They don't indicate that your wine is spoiled.
Speaker 1: Quite the contrary. In fact, these harmless, tasteless crystals are
Speaker 1: called wine diamonds, and not just because of their looks.
Speaker 1: Wine diamonds are considered a sign of quality by the
Speaker 1: Somalias and wine makers, who say that their presence indicates
Speaker 1: that a wine hasn't been overprocessed. Wine diamonds aren't made
Speaker 1: of diamond perhaps obviously, there are bits of potassium by tartrate,
Speaker 1: also referred to as potassium hydrogen tartrate, potassium acid tartrate,
Speaker 1: or the street name cream of tartar, and they're a
Speaker 1: byproduct of wine making. You may know cream of tartar
Speaker 1: for its uses in cooking or baking, including as a
Speaker 1: leavening agent in baked goods or to help whipped egg
Speaker 1: whites hold their peaks. It's really useful, but it was
Speaker 1: also really expensive for centuries because it was only known
Speaker 1: as a rare byproduct of the wine industry. It wasn't
Speaker 1: until the eighteen fifties, when chemists made a few breakthroughs
Speaker 1: in the production of similar leaveners, that we normal folks
Speaker 1: were able to afford to make the fluffy baked goods
Speaker 1: we love today. Anyway, Wine diamonds form during the fermentation
Speaker 1: process in either bottles or in winery tanks when wine
Speaker 1: is stored at temperatures below fifty degrees fahrenheit or ten
Speaker 1: degrees celsius, and they're not uncommon either. The crystals can
Speaker 1: form in either red or white wines, but they're most
Speaker 1: often seen in white wines, and that's because white wines
Speaker 1: contain higher levels of tartaric acid, are clearer, and are
Speaker 1: usually held at cooler temperatures. Also, red wines usually undergo
Speaker 1: a longer barrel aging process that allows more time for
Speaker 1: the crystals to naturally fall to the bottom of the barrels.
Speaker 1: Some wine makers use a process called cold stabilization to
Speaker 1: reduce the amount of wine diamonds in bottles, and this
Speaker 1: involves chilling the wine while it sits in the fermentation tanks.
Speaker 1: But wait, you may be thinking, doesn't the cold trigger
Speaker 1: their formation. Yes, a cold stabilization encourages the formation of
Speaker 1: crystals so that they can be filtered out before bottling,
Speaker 1: but it's not a shure fire process, as the crystals
Speaker 1: can still form in bottles if they're stored at cooler temperatures.
Speaker 1: If you pop a bottle of wine and see little
Speaker 1: crystals on the cork or notice them settled at the
Speaker 1: bottom of your bottle, don't worry. They're harmless and don't
Speaker 1: impact the wine's flavor. But if you find their appearance
Speaker 1: on appetizing or cringe when if you wind up in
Speaker 1: your mouth as you sip the last drops from your glass,
Speaker 1: there are things you can do to prevent them from
Speaker 1: forming story your wine at temperatures between fifty five and
Speaker 1: sixty degrees fahrenheit that's twelve point seven to fifteen point
Speaker 1: five celsius, and only chill them further just before serve
Speaker 1: ing if needed. If you still find the crystals at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the bottle, it can happen, and would
Speaker 1: rather not risk them getting into your glass. You can
Speaker 1: either pour the wine through cheese cloth or decant the
Speaker 1: last quarter bottle of wine. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Jennifer Walker Journey and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other crystallized topics, visit house
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio or more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.