Why not bottle cloudy wine?

[pip]

I never bottle cloudy wine but when a non-wine maker asked why today i drew a blank. Well, i said because it leaves sediment which can compromise the taste and its not very aesthetically pleasing...and...well, you never bottle cloudy wine! Is there some science here that i should know more about?

 

[CryptoStorm]

That is exactly why.

 

[Ron0126]

I think you nailed it. Few people want unknown floaties in their wine.

 

[JohnT]

You can bottle cloudy wine, have the wine clear in the bottle, and then decant the wine before you drink it.

It is much more preferable to clarify in bulk and save yourself from having to decant later.

 

[BernardSmith]

But I think that more and more folk are bottling cloudy meads and wines these days. I mean professional vintners and mead makers...

 

[cmason1957]

I don't know that I have seen any commercially available cloudy wine. Unfiltered, yes, even unfined, but none that I would call really and truly cloudy. I do know that I would be hesitant to purchase a cloudy white wine. It is harder to tell with reds in a bottle, but I probably wouldn't buy that a second time.

 

[montanaWineGuy]

Cloudy wine, 1) may not be done fermenting, or 2) can begin refermenting and blow corks or bust the bottles and make a big mess. I know! A few years back I had some Apricot wine bust bottles, and some Elderberry wine blew the corks.

 

[Noontime]

But I think that more and more folk are bottling cloudy meads and wines these days. I mean professional vintners and mead makers...

Some mead makers make sure NOT to clear the meads. There's a large number of mead makers who are adamant about keeping mead "natural" and scoff at a clear mead. I'm not judgemental either way, but I do find the two polar opposites interesting (wine makers fanatical about clarity and mead makers fanatical about not stripping anything).

 

[CryptoStorm]

I could read a book while looking through my carboy of mead..

 

[BernardSmith]

I could read a book while looking through my carboy of mead..

But that is presumably a choice that you are making. Looks like there are a number of mead makers who see their meads as competing not with wines but with beers and ciders and they are working to get their bottles out and opened weeks after pitching the yeast with gravities that are designed for quaffing, not sipping. So they are to be enjoyed while your friends are pulling pints of ale. Fining (and aging) those session meads is not an issue. It's becoming more of an option...

 

[Mismost]

and then there are the times you bottle crystal clear and it gets cloudy. I think you try to never bottle cloudy wine so you don't go crazy and say bad words.....but maybe that's just me.

 

[Scooter68]

So why do we not drink cloudy water? Hmmm impurities? Well while those 'impurities' making your wine cloudy or precipitating out of the wine are not only unappealing to the eye, they are an unknown substance that, while it may not harm you, it can give some unpredictable flavors or smells to the wine if left in there.

Some things like hard apple cider are fine cloudy but the adjective cloudy is not not considered a complement when used to describe a wine.

When I see cloudy wine or sediment the word dregs comes to mind.

dregs
dreɡz
noun
The remnants of a liquid left in a container, together with any sediment or grounds.
"coffee dregs"
synonyms: sediment, deposit, residue, accumulation, sludge, lees, grounds, remains; technicalresiduum
"The dregs from a bottle of wine"
The most worthless part or parts of something.
"the dregs of society"
synonyms: scum, refuse, riffraff, outcasts, deadbeats;

 

[balatonwine]

I don't know that I have seen any commercially available cloudy wine.

Orange* wines can have a cloudy haze to them. But those are still not commonly commercially available yet in the States.


* As in white wine grapes fermented on the skin, usually in ceramic amphora. Not wine made from oranges.

 

[meadmaker1]

When I pitched my first yeast I had nothing to loose and nothing to show for it. A couple years later I have a couple cases with a few verities bottled and 8ish gallons ready to bottle of stuff i feel good about. Its a bunch easyer to give the time it takes now that I can pop a cork and show you what I do and im making it faster that I am consuming it.
It seems from what ive read, seen, heard, and experienced, a case of I just couldnt wait cloudy and another case of bombs, were just merit badge achivements.
Looking back I doubt I could have learned these two any other way

 

[Smok1]

my wifes father makes wine from fruit and refuses to use anything but yeast and sugar with his fruit wines, no clearing agents or stabalizers, he says its not natural, hes old school, sometimes his wine is cloudy but i still think its great, i dont personally bottle cloudy wine mostly because of estetics but i have no problem drinking a hazy wine if it tastes good.

 

[JohnT]

I use no filtration and no fining agents.

I simply let the wine clarify itself over TIME.

I let my wine bulk age for at least 18 months and have found that my wine remains clear in the bottle (even after 10 years under cork).

 

[CryptoStorm]

I use bentonite.

Not only does it help clarify , but it also helps to stabilize the primary fermentation. Nothing more frustrating to me than a primary that foams through the air lock.

 

[montanaWineGuy]

I use bentonite.

Not only does it help clarify , but it also helps to stabilize the primary fermentation. Nothing more frustrating to me than a primary that foams through the air lock.

I'm a huge fan of Bentonite. It's very important to let is soak in some warm water before introducing it to your carboy. The clearing process can be very fast and effective.

 

[pip]

I use bentonite too, big fan. But it works better on some fruits than others, from my experience anyway.

 

[montanaWineGuy]

I use bentonite too, big fan. But it works better on some fruits than others, from my experience anyway.

With Apple Wine it is dramatic. In a single day, I've seen the cloudy liquid become clear by 80%, and complete not long afterwards.