Wine and oxygen from grape to glass

Oxygen is one of the major factors in the evolution of wines from grapes to the consumer's glass. How to manage the quantities of oxygen needed in all the stages of its life? How to protect wine from dissolved oxygen?

Oxygen needs vary during the life of a wine, depending on the grape variety and the type of wine to be produced. During production, the cellar hand must manage the delicate pre-fermentative phase by providing macro-quantities of oxygen to help the yeast finish transforming sugar into alcohol. During ageing wine will need a few milligrams of oxygen to refine. During conditioning, the goal will be to protect the wine as much as possible from atmospheric oxygen contamination, in order to be able to control the sensorial evolution and reduce the sulphite content.

Finally, during transport and storage of wines, the entry of oxygen will be regulated either by the choice of the oxygen permeability of the cork, In the case of a bottle, or by the packaging, in the case of a PET bottle or a bag-in -box.

In his presentation at Enoforum, Jean-Claude Vidal analyzes these stages in the life of wine in detail.

The paper reproduced in this video-seminar was presented at the 12th edition of Enoforum (Vicenza, Italy, May 21-23, 2019).

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