A taste of wine chemistry
Nina Notman talks to the wine detectives uncovering the flavour molecules in our favourite tipples
Wine is a surprisingly complex chemical mixture. It is 97% water and ethanol, but each bottle also contains thousands, if not tens of thousands, of different molecules, ranging from acids and sugars to phenolic compounds and vanishingly low concentration aroma compounds. But wine chemists have recently found that the characteristic flavours in New Zealand Sauvignon blanc and cool-climate Shiraz can be traced to just a few compounds. This kind of information can help winemakers craft their products in a more scientific way.