What to expect from the bottle
Cloudiness, spritz, sediment, a little reduction. What is normal, what is a fault, and how to tell them apart.
Natural and low intervention wines can behave differently from the polished supermarket bottle, and that catches people out. Most of what looks like a fault is not one. Here is how to tell the difference, so nothing surprises you and nothing goes back that should not.
Cloudiness
A hazy wine is usually an unfined and unfiltered one. Fining and filtering make a wine bright and clear, and also strip a little texture and flavour on the way. A grower who skips them trades clarity for character. Cloudy is a choice, not a flaw.
A little spritz
Open a still wine and feel a faint prickle on the tongue. That is a touch of carbon dioxide left from fermentation, often a sign of a wine bottled with minimal sulphur to protect it. It usually blows off in a few minutes. In a pet nat, the fizz is the whole point.
Sediment
Bits at the bottom of the bottle are the wine's own solids, harmless and a good sign of a light touch. Stand the bottle up for a day before opening, then pour gently and leave the last inch behind.
Reduction
A struck match or flinty note on first pour is reduction, a lack of oxygen in the wine. A quick decant or a good swirl clears it almost every time. It is not a fault, it is a wine that wants a minute of air.
When it really is a fault
Two things are genuine faults. A wet cardboard smell that does not shift is cork taint, and a nail varnish or vinegar sharpness that takes over the wine is volatile acidity gone too far. If you get either, tell us and we will put it right. That is what the warehouse and the direct relationship are for.