What is wine cold stabilization and why is it important?

At LDV, white and rose wines are cold stabilized before bottling. Cold stabilization is an important step for the following reasons.

1. It eliminates tartrates left in the wine that appear when the wine is chilled. We like to remove them to have a beautiful, clear wine.
2. Protein haze can appear in the wine after bottling. Cold stabilization clarifies the wine.
3. Cold stabilization can eliminate any of the pathogens that may be in the wine.

A glycol chiller fin is inserted into the tank of wine that lowers the temperature from 57 degrees, which is the temperature in the winery, to 32 degrees for two weeks. Then the wine is ready to filter and bottle. Curt Dunham, grower and winemaker discusses the cold stabilization process in this short video.