Decanting, why?
Wine sediment and decanting
Sediment occurs mainly in red wine but occasionally tartrate crystals (see below) can appear in white and rosé wine – old dessert wine sometimes ‘throw’ a brownish sediment. Such deposits are not an indication of a fault in the wine. In fact most very expensive wine that is made to be aged to maturity – e.g. high class Claret, vintage Port – will throw sediment. This is the result of pigments and tannins breaking down.