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