Smoke taint is a significant threat to wine quality, and is relatively common in places that are more prone to wildfires (specifically, Australia and parts of California). Smoke taint in wine is created when grapevines are exposed to a significant…
Wine, unlike many other food and beverage products, is somewhat frequently more subject to fraudulent practices that result in significant financial losses for those unknowing victims purchasing what they thought was a high quality wine when in fact it is…
Biogenic amines are carefully monitored in the food and beverage industries, since if they are taken in at too high of concentrations, they can cause significant health problems including headaches, breathing problems, and cardiac problems. Biogenic amines are nitrogen-based compounds…
I was very excited to crack open American Wine: The Ultimate Companion to the Wines and Wineries of the United States by Jancis Robinson and Linda Murphy, and I have to say that I was not disappointed! To purchase American…
One very important step in the white winemaking process is the removal of proteins that cause a hazy appearance of the wine while in storage. Often, bentonite is used to remove these proteins, as the negatively charge bentonite will attract…
As almost everyone in the wine business knows, Botrytis cinerea is a fungal pathogen that attacks many plants, including grapes, which can cause significant crop and quality losses and ultimately economic losses for wineries and vineyards. Physiologically, B. cinerea excretes…
As many of you may already know, using oak barrels in wine fermentation and aging increases wine aromatic complexity and improves overall quality. The use of oak in wine is and has always been very popular, despite the fact that…
“One bad wine in the valley is bad for every winery in the valley. One good wine in the valley is good for everyone.” –Robert Mondavi Leading in to the article presented today (Yang et al. 2012) was the above…
The “Who’s Your Daddy” series takes a very brief look at the parentage of grapes, in order to get a better understanding of where particular varietals come from and how they are genetically related to one another. So far, we’ve…