Today, we explore a group of compounds that’s a point of contention in the wine industry: mineral salts. During wine production, when a mineral acid interacts with a base, mineral salts form. Just like everything else we’ve discussed in this series, these compounds ultimately affect a drinker’s perception of a wine. And one of the most important groups of mineral salts in wine is sulfites.
The world of natural wine has become synonymous with wines produced without any sulfites. As such, many view sulfites as a dirty word in wine, potentially alluding to something unnatural or artificial. But the truth is that people have been using sulfites in wine production since antiquity as a natural preservative. They can be hugely beneficial, but if a producer adds too many sulfites to a wine, that’s when things can start to get a bit dicey.
On this episode of “Wine 101,” Keith dishes up a crash course on all things mineral salts and debunks some notions around sulfites before discussing a few other mineral salts commonly found in wine. Tune in for more.
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“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big old shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.
The article Wine 101: The Composition of Wine Part V: Mineral Salts appeared first on VinePair.