Using Wine Preservative 220
Wine makers have a legal obligation to provide information on wine labels regarding the preservatives normally used in making our products.
Sometimes this causes concern among the wine buying public.
At wine education seminars, we are sometimes asked questions like "Why have we started adding things to our product?" or "What is this preservative in the wine?" Preservative 220, the most widely used, is sulphur dioxide.
It is used to keep the wine in good condition during the production process and after bottling until it is consumed.
Without it, the wine would not be very palatable and would have a very short shelf life.
Because wine is a natural product, it is subject to oxidation if exposed to air for any length of time.
Just as an apple or pear when cut open will gradually turn brown, so will wine made from crushed grapes.
Not only does this result in an unattractive appearance, but the wine looses the freshness of the fruit flavours.
To prevent this, a small amount of sulphur dioxide is added at the crusher and later during the maturation period prior to bottling.
Sulphur dioxide is a remarkable compound, combining both germicidal and anti oxidant properties.
It is relatively non-toxic and an excess can be detected by smell.
No other compound has been found which possesses all these characteristics.
At the levels used in modern winemaking, up to 25 parts per million (ppm) for reds and 35 ppm for whites, sulphur is undetectable except by chemical analysis.
By comparison, the legal limit is 350 ppm.
A popular misconception is that the use of sulphur as a preservative is something new but it is a result of the introduction of modern chemistry in winemaking.
Actually, sulphur has been used as a preservative for thousands of years now.
Recently, some scrapings from the inside of an ancient Roman amphora used to store wine were analysed and found to contain traces of sulphur.
Sometimes this causes concern among the wine buying public.
At wine education seminars, we are sometimes asked questions like "Why have we started adding things to our product?" or "What is this preservative in the wine?" Preservative 220, the most widely used, is sulphur dioxide.
It is used to keep the wine in good condition during the production process and after bottling until it is consumed.
Without it, the wine would not be very palatable and would have a very short shelf life.
Because wine is a natural product, it is subject to oxidation if exposed to air for any length of time.
Just as an apple or pear when cut open will gradually turn brown, so will wine made from crushed grapes.
Not only does this result in an unattractive appearance, but the wine looses the freshness of the fruit flavours.
To prevent this, a small amount of sulphur dioxide is added at the crusher and later during the maturation period prior to bottling.
Sulphur dioxide is a remarkable compound, combining both germicidal and anti oxidant properties.
It is relatively non-toxic and an excess can be detected by smell.
No other compound has been found which possesses all these characteristics.
At the levels used in modern winemaking, up to 25 parts per million (ppm) for reds and 35 ppm for whites, sulphur is undetectable except by chemical analysis.
By comparison, the legal limit is 350 ppm.
A popular misconception is that the use of sulphur as a preservative is something new but it is a result of the introduction of modern chemistry in winemaking.
Actually, sulphur has been used as a preservative for thousands of years now.
Recently, some scrapings from the inside of an ancient Roman amphora used to store wine were analysed and found to contain traces of sulphur.
