Wine Tartrates – (What are these (snow) flakes in our white wine?)
The “crystals” or “flake” evidenced in the bottle are natural grape tartrates that crystallized and settled out of solution after bottling, due to the wine being held cold for too long a time or at too low a temperature. Tartrates are completely harmless. No one should worry needlessly if they have consumed a wine with a few tartrate crystals. There is no adverse health issue. You may, however, wish to stand such bottles upright until the crystals have settled to the bottom and then decant the wine to remove the crystals. Again, these “tartrates” are a result of “too cold” of a wine storage temperature. These are, of course, most noticed during the extreme cold-weather months (particularly the Midwest and East Coast regions) and storage and shipping of wine during this time period should be of concern if not shipped and stored in temperature-controlled environments. Feel free to strain with a coffee filter for a visual return of product to the natural state as taste is not affected.
