Diamonds Are A Wine’s Best Friend!

I was sent a text one day with a message along the lines of “Wait…what do I do if my wine is bad? Like moldy? What is THAT??”

Well this is what my friend saw on the cork:

So I was happy to inform her that those are tartrate crystals, or better known as wine diamonds.  These crystals are a harmless byproduct of wine and have no aroma or flavor and don’t affect the quality of the wine. 

How are they formed?

These crystals are formed when tartaric acid (a natural component found in grapes) binds with potassium in cold conditions.  The compound that is formed called potassium bitartrate.  It’s the same thing as cream of tartar used in cooking.

Tartrate crystals can be found in red and white wines, but white wine usually contains more potassium bitartrate.  Since white wines are served chilled, the crystals will appear will form.  So what wineries will do is help remove these crystals by cooling their white wines to near freezing before bottling so that when a consumer does chill a bottle, the crystals won’t be there.

What if my wine has wine diamonds?

There is nothing to fear if you see these in your wine.  What it means is that the wine was not cold treated.  And some wine experts will tell you that it’s a sign of a higher quality wine because the wine making process happened without much inference or filtering.  Remember they have no taste, so you can filter them or just have a little crunch if you drink them. 

So I guess you could say diamonds are a wine lover’s best friend!