Resumen de Red wine bottle deposits, I: a predictive assay and an assessment of some factors affecting deposit formation
Z. Peng, Elizabeth J. Waters, K. F. Pocock, P.J. Williams
A heat test assay has been developed to predict whether red wines will form a lacquer‐like pigmented deposit after bottling. Wine samples are held in a dry block‐heater at 84°C for 16 h and then cooled at 23°C for 4 h. Under these conditions, unstable wines formed more turbidity than stable wines. Material precipitated and measured as turbidity in the predictive heat test had a chemical composition similar to that of bottle deposits. The degree of turbidity produced in the predictive assay was related to the amount of bottle deposit formed in a long‐term storage trial. By varying the headspace volume and the amount of one of several antioxidants in the wine, the assay confirmed that formation of the bottle deposit is an oxidative process.
