Oxygen is a vital, critical component to you, me and all human beings. Alas, the story is a bit different when it comes to wine. If wine is exposed to more than a small amount of oxygen, the results can be horrific. How so? Well, it might be better used for your fish and chips!
Timing is a big issue when it comes to wine. When you open a bottle of wine, you often want to let it breathe for a few minutes depending on the type of wine in question. Why? The exposure to oxygen will modify the taste of the wine in a manner that was planned for by the vintner at the winery. Take that same bottle of wine, however, and leave it uncorked and on the table for a couple of hours and what happens? The wine “goes bad” and tastes terrible. The reason has to do with the temperature probably getting to high and the impact oxygen exposure is having on the wine.
What is the problem with oxygen exposure? It has to do with a microbe called acetobacter. It is almost always present in wine. When exposed to oxygen, the microbe starts doing something interesting. It starts converting the ethyl alcohol in the wine into acetic acid through a multistep process. So, why is this a problem? Well, acetic acid is the main component of…vinegar! Yikes!
It takes more than a few hours for acetobacter to convert the ethyl alcohol in wine to a vinegar substance. Leaving a wine bottle open for a few hours isn’t a problem. Exposure to oxygen while the wine is being stored, however, is a different story. Even a tiny bit of oxygen leaking in through the cork can lead to a stored bottle of wine that is not wine, but vinegar. It happens all the time!
If you have are storing wine to let it age, you should take all possible steps to prevent oxygen from getting into the wine. The last thing you want to do is open a bottle after 10 years and get a whiff of vinegar!
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To keep wine from becoming spoiled winemakers sometimes add preservatives. In fact, if preservatives are not added to wine it will only last six months to a year. Preservatives are added to keep wine from turning to vinegar and several types of preservatives are used in the winemaking process.
Two natural preservatives result from the grapes and the fermenting process – alcohol and tannins. These preservatives are excellent for extending the life of wine and kill off most organisms as very few can live in alcohol.
The most popular added preservative is sulphur dioxide. This is an anti-oxidant and a sterilizing agent that prevents organisms from growing in wine. It also prevents wine from turning into vinegar. This occurs by forming a barrier between oxygen and the wine, not allowing them to interact.
If the Romans Can Do It…
Sulphur has long been used as a preservative. In ancient times the Romans broke sulphur into small pieces and burned it before adding the pieces to wine. It also has a long history as a food preservative since the early 18th century.
White wines normally have more sulphur dioxide because they are sweeter. Sweet wines contain more sugar and ferment at a higher rate, resulting in a need for more sulphites.
Other common preservatives include 220 sodium dioxide, 220 sodium bisulphite, and 223 sodium meta- bisulphite. As with sulphur dioxide, these sulphites are regulated as to the amount that can be added to wine.
Why the Aging Process Needs Preserving
Preservatives added to wine depend on several factors. There are many things that can take place at the winery or during harvesting that lessen the amount of preservatives needed. For example, careful harvesting of grapes will keep them from being damaged. That is why some of the best vineyards pick grapes by hand.
It is very important to time the harvest process correctly. The time between the harvesting of the grapes and the time the grapes arrive at the winery is critical. Less of a time interval at this stage means less opportunity for bacteria growth and less need for pesticides.
Cooling processes are necessary. All wineries must have temperature sensitive cooling equipment in order to keep grapes at the proper temperature during the winemaking process. This is especially important when the grapes are being crushed.
Winemakers use a special filter to remove organisms from the wine. This filter acts as a screening device. The filtration system is used before the wine is boiled during the winemaking process.
Cleanliness is Next to…Great Wine!
A clean winery is important for preserving wine. Winemakers strive to keep their facilities as clean as possible in order to keep bacteria to a minimum. This keeps other harmful items from entering the wine at anytime during the winemaking process. Common logic says that the cleaner the winery, the less preservatives needed to keep harmful microbes at bay.
The cleanliness of winemaking facilities has lead to the theory that overall, cheaper wines have a higher sulphur count than higher quality wines. This is due to the clean conditions of high end wineries and the high expectations of their customers.
A preservative free wine does not exist. Many people are confused over terminology and feel that a wine must be preservative free in order to be organic. The preservatives added to wine have nothing to do with its organic status.
An organic wine is produced using harvesting methods that are eco-friendly. In addition, certain of the winemaking processes may also be eco-friendly but the adding of preservatives does not make a wine non-organic.
Do not concern yourself with the safety of sulphites in wine. The preservatives are not harmful and even allergies to sulphites are extremely rare. As mentioned before, no wine is entirely sulphite free. Even if sulphite is not added during the winemaking process the grapes themselves produce a small natural amount.
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It is actually not that difficult to make your own wine, and making your own wine can be a truly fun and enjoyable experience, let alone a learning one as well. The process of wine making truly holds a fascination among people, and it is an incredibly popular subject all across the world.
Instructions on Making Your own Wine If you are interested in making your own wine, there are a few things that you should know which will help to get you started, such as: wine making is safe, as pathogenic bacteria cannot survive in wine, and therefore you cannot really be harmed; you can actually make wine that is better than at least some of the commercial products; and that true quality wine is made by using the best ingredients, and only practice will be able to make your truly knowledgeable on the subject, but it is a process which you will enjoy while you are learning it.
The most important thing you will need when you are planning on making your own wine is a wine making starter kit, which you can find at locations all over the world for a quite reasonable price. Generally most wine making kits include the same items, which includes such things as: a 25-30 liter fermenting bucket with a sealable lid, an air lock and rubber stopper which creates a one-way valve that will let CO2 gas escape from the fermenting liquid and yet prevents any oxygen from being able to enter as well.
You should also receive a long plastic spoon which makes it easy to stir a huge 5 gallon bucket of liquid, a thermometer, a glass or plastic carboy, a siphoning tube and attachment which will be used to transfer the wine between your fermenting bucket and carboy, sanitizing powder and an instruction booklet, and a hydrometer with a sample jar and a crown capper or wine corker.
Those are just the basics, but when you are planning on making your own wine you should browse around at all of the available options, because there are plenty more items that you can have included in your wine making kit. Once you have the starting equipment that you need, then all you need to do is start the process.
There are many tools available that are there to help you in the wine making process, and the most important thing to remember is to have fun. Don’t worry about making mistakes, because this process, as with basically any other process, trial and error is the only way it can be done, and you should have fun and enjoy yourself while you are doing it.
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If you are human, more than likely you have woken up with a hangover at one time or another. The first thing you notice as your eyes start to focus on the ceiling fan overhead is that your mouth feels as if somebody zapped out all of the moisture from it and then proceeded to stuff it with cotton balls. As you lift your head from your pillow to get yourself a cold glass of water, your head begins to throb. At that point, the nausea hits and all you want to do is grab the comforter, pull it over your head and go back to sleep.
You are now one of the millions of people who has suffered from a hangover due to a night of binge drinking. For the most part, it does not really matter what you binged on the night before. Beer, liquor, champagne, and wine have all been known to give hangovers. The question is, now that you have the hangover, how do you cure it and how can you prevent it from every happening again? If you ask anybody, they will have their own guaranteed miracle cure, so here are some of the more popular ones.
Cures * Drink plenty of liquids but steer clear of any beverage that is caffeinated like coffee or soda. Like alcohol, drinks with caffeine are considered diuretics which will aggravate your already present dehydration. Instead, drink a few glasses of ice cold water or a sports drink like Gatorade. Also, many friends will insist that drinking more alcohol the morning after will cure your hangover. Do not listen to them. This will serve only to make your hangover even worse later in the day. * Have a healthy breakfast that is high in potassium. A perfect remedy is to make a banana shake with real bananas and yogurt. * If you are not allergic to it, two aspirin will help with the headache and nausea. * Some people who have had multiple hangovers highly recommend taking some Vitamin B tablets to help ease the symptoms of the hangover. * If at all possible, try to get more rest. This will help you sleep the worst of the hangover off.
Prevention If you know you will be hitting the bars and clubs that night, have a full dinner. Do not go out drinking with an empty stomach, or you are setting yourself up for a drunken night to be immediately followed by a hangover morning. The food you eat before drinking alcohol will help to soak up some of that alcohol that you will be pouring into your body.
If you have nothing in your stomach, the alcohol will go straight into your system getting you drunker faster. One other way to prevent a horrendous hangover the following day is to continually drink liquids throughout the evening, and by liquids I do not mean more liquor. Have a couple of glasses of ice cold water or juice throughout the night to keep your body hydrated. Alcohol will quickly strip your body of hydration, since you will find urination to be much more frequent, so keep the non-alcoholic liquids coming in.
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