This week the Ideal Wine Company
explores the idea that wine holds unique chemical ‘footprint’s’ that can be
used to determine its origin and quality.
It can be Hard to Determine Class from Swill
As a provider of first rate
luxury vintages at reasonable prices, Ideal Wine Company understands the
difficulty that comes with identifying bottles of true quality. Often, it’s
hard to know when you are buying class or swill.
That means that it can sometimes
be hard to ensure that first rate bottles end up in your collection. However,
that could be a thing of the past, as last week, the BBC reported
that scientists have found that fine wine holds chemical footprints, These can
be used to determine its quality, as well as it’s region of origin.
How Was the Study Carried Out?
According to the news service,
researchers from the University of California Davis reported the findings at
the recent meeting of the American Chemical Society. Their aim was to
fingerprint the terroir in luxury vintages. This is the climate, geology and
geography that a certain place infuses into a bottle of wine.
To determine their findings, the
team took wines from the same Malbec grape variety from a range of regions in
California and Argentina. The idea was to examine compounds in wine, which can
only be determined through smell. They then employed the skills of a team of
trained experts to evaluate the vintages based on 20 sensory characteristics.
These characteristics included texture, taste and aroma.
What Did the Study Find?
What they ultimately discovered
was that despite the fact that the two Malbecs were produced by the same wine-maker,
the vintages from Argentina and California had unique molecular signatures and
flavours. Yet, the team also reported that the delicate aroma attached to each
fine vintage was shown to quickly erode when subjected poor storing at the post
bottling stage.
This comes at a time when wine
enthusiasts across the world are calling out for a more objective test to
determine quality in luxury wine. Previous methods have been somewhat
subjective; this has led to the development of less reliable processes designed
to determine quality in fine vintages.
Quality throughout the Fine Wine Trade
This finding could be monumental. Here at Ideal Wine Company, we’ve often seen how people struggle to determine the true value of a luxury vintage. This test could streamline the process, to ensure quality throughout the fine wine trade.
This finding could be monumental. Here at Ideal Wine Company, we’ve often seen how people struggle to determine the true value of a luxury vintage. This test could streamline the process, to ensure quality throughout the fine wine trade.
