Optimising Desirable Wine Flavours While Forgoing Sulphur Dioxide
Erl Happ
Happs Pty Ltd
Dunsborough Australia
Wine quality is predicated on the raw material (grapes) related to choices in site and climate and in vineyard and winery. Palatability may be compromised by manifold factors: Low quality fruit, uneven fruit maturity, the lack of desired flavour or the presence of undesired flavours in the grape at harvest, flavour destroying heat during ripening, damage by birds and fungi prior to harvest leading to growth of organisms that endanger the wine quality and stability, fruit damage by harvesting machines or high temperature during pre fermentation processing that enables these organisms to multiply very quickly, poor fermentation management, oxidation post ferment and the failure to control undesirable organisms pre and post bottling . We outline a multi-step protocol for achieving high quality wine without recourse to sulphur dioxide, the presence of which directly compromises wine quality and, moreover, deters consumption by eliciting allergic responses. The notion that sulphur dioxide is a natural product of fermentation and an unavoidable contaminant, is explored. The notion that sulphur dioxide is vital as a ‘preservative’ in bottled wine is also explored.