WEBVTT - What Are Wine Diamonds?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.320
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:10.200
<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Volga Bam here. Have you ever

0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.840
<v Speaker 1>ended up with tiny crystals sprouting out of your wine

0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.360
<v Speaker 1>cork or settling at the bottom of your wine bottle?

0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.120
<v Speaker 1>Don't worry. They don't indicate that your wine is spoiled.

0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.800
<v Speaker 1>Quite the contrary. In fact, these harmless, tasteless crystals are

0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.320
<v Speaker 1>called wine diamonds, and not just because of their looks.

0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.639
<v Speaker 1>Wine diamonds are considered a sign of quality by the

0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:35.040
<v Speaker 1>Somalias and wine makers, who say that their presence indicates

0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:40.200
<v Speaker 1>that a wine hasn't been overprocessed. Wine diamonds aren't made

0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:44.880
<v Speaker 1>of diamond perhaps obviously, there are bits of potassium by tartrate,

0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.279
<v Speaker 1>also referred to as potassium hydrogen tartrate, potassium acid tartrate,

0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.640
<v Speaker 1>or the street name cream of tartar, and they're a

0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:56.720
<v Speaker 1>byproduct of wine making. You may know cream of tartar

0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.160
<v Speaker 1>for its uses in cooking or baking, including as a

0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.720
<v Speaker 1>leavening agent in baked goods or to help whipped egg

0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.319
<v Speaker 1>whites hold their peaks. It's really useful, but it was

0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.479
<v Speaker 1>also really expensive for centuries because it was only known

0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.759
<v Speaker 1>as a rare byproduct of the wine industry. It wasn't

0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.840
<v Speaker 1>until the eighteen fifties, when chemists made a few breakthroughs

0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.880
<v Speaker 1>in the production of similar leaveners, that we normal folks

0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.479
<v Speaker 1>were able to afford to make the fluffy baked goods

0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:26.320
<v Speaker 1>we love today. Anyway, Wine diamonds form during the fermentation

0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:30.000
<v Speaker 1>process in either bottles or in winery tanks when wine

0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.319
<v Speaker 1>is stored at temperatures below fifty degrees fahrenheit or ten

0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.800
<v Speaker 1>degrees celsius, and they're not uncommon either. The crystals can

0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.120
<v Speaker 1>form in either red or white wines, but they're most

0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.280
<v Speaker 1>often seen in white wines, and that's because white wines

0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.120
<v Speaker 1>contain higher levels of tartaric acid, are clearer, and are

0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:52.000
<v Speaker 1>usually held at cooler temperatures. Also, red wines usually undergo

0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.120
<v Speaker 1>a longer barrel aging process that allows more time for

0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.400
<v Speaker 1>the crystals to naturally fall to the bottom of the barrels.

0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.920
<v Speaker 1>Some wine makers use a process called cold stabilization to

0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.360
<v Speaker 1>reduce the amount of wine diamonds in bottles, and this

0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.680
<v Speaker 1>involves chilling the wine while it sits in the fermentation tanks.

0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.880
<v Speaker 1>But wait, you may be thinking, doesn't the cold trigger

0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:18.800
<v Speaker 1>their formation. Yes, a cold stabilization encourages the formation of

0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.679
<v Speaker 1>crystals so that they can be filtered out before bottling,

0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.000
<v Speaker 1>but it's not a shure fire process, as the crystals

0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.200
<v Speaker 1>can still form in bottles if they're stored at cooler temperatures.

0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:31.760
<v Speaker 1>If you pop a bottle of wine and see little

0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.040
<v Speaker 1>crystals on the cork or notice them settled at the

0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.480
<v Speaker 1>bottom of your bottle, don't worry. They're harmless and don't

0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.520
<v Speaker 1>impact the wine's flavor. But if you find their appearance

0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.280
<v Speaker 1>on appetizing or cringe when if you wind up in

0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.720
<v Speaker 1>your mouth as you sip the last drops from your glass,

0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.359
<v Speaker 1>there are things you can do to prevent them from

0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.160
<v Speaker 1>forming story your wine at temperatures between fifty five and

0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.480
<v Speaker 1>sixty degrees fahrenheit that's twelve point seven to fifteen point

0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.919
<v Speaker 1>five celsius, and only chill them further just before serve

0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.520
<v Speaker 1>ing if needed. If you still find the crystals at

0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.040
<v Speaker 1>the bottom of the bottle, it can happen, and would

0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.440
<v Speaker 1>rather not risk them getting into your glass. You can

0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.600
<v Speaker 1>either pour the wine through cheese cloth or decant the

0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:19.520
<v Speaker 1>last quarter bottle of wine. Today's episode was written by

0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.520
<v Speaker 1>Jennifer Walker Journey and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.000
<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other crystallized topics, visit house

0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.880
<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart

0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.760
<v Speaker 1>Radio or more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart

0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.440
<v Speaker 1>Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:34.160
<v Speaker 1>favorite shows.