Either way, this article was clever and I thought I'd share it.


The science of ageing wine

Box clever
Jun 10th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Some wine can improve if stored in a carton rather than in a bottle



AMONG snobs and sommeliers, nothing can compete with wine in a glass
bottle sealed with a cork stopper. Yet as cheap alternatives to cork
have become available and high fuel prices have made transporting
glass more expensive, some winemakers have adopted an alternative
method of storage: putting wine in cartons, like those used for milk,
made from layers of polythene, paper and aluminium foil. Admittedly,
serving wine from a carton lacks the aesthetic appeal of a bottle, and
cartons have also been criticised for allowing flavour-destroying
oxygen to seep in during storage. A new study, however, reveals that
although the criticism of wine cartons for allowing oxidation is
valid, they have the advantage of soaking up chemicals that can ruin
the flavour in other ways.

High levels of chemicals called alkyl-methoxypyrazines can make wines
taste as though the fruit from which they were made was under-ripe or
low-quality. Originally grapes themselves were thought to be the only
source of this class of compounds in wine, but recent research has
shown that invasive Asian lady beetles (also known as Harlequin
ladybirds) are also involved in the process. These beetles eat grapes
and can accidentally get mixed into the winemaking process. They then
contribute to the formation of these undesirable chemicals in some
North American and French wines.

The wine industry has tried various ways to remove alkyl-
methoxypyrazines, but none has been particularly successful. To make
matters worse, the Asian lady beetle is becoming more prevalent in
Italy, Spain, Argentina and South Africa, which means winemakers from
those regions could soon face the problem of dealing with these
chemicals, too. But it has long been known that packaging plays a role
in controlling wine chemistry and taste by absorbing some volatile
compounds in a process known as “flavour scalping”. A team led by Gary
Pickering at Brock University in Canada decided to investigate the
impact of different forms of packaging on the concentration of alkyl-
methoxypyrazines in wines.

The researchers added three types of alkyl-methoxypyrazine to red
(cabernet franc) and white (riesling) wines, some of which were stored
in cartons, and others in bottles. Natural cork, synthetic cork and
screw caps were used to seal the bottles. The researchers then
monitored chemical levels in the wines for 18 months.

They report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that at
the end of the study the levels of the different types of alkyl-
methoxypyrazines, known as IBMP, IPMP and SBMP, had fallen by 45%, 32%
and 26% respectively in the wines stored in cartons. In wines stored
in bottles, the levels of IBMP (which produces a characteristic “sweet
pepper” taste) did not fall as much: by 37% for synthetic cork, 36%
for screw cap and 31% for natural cork. When it came to IPMP
(associated with “green pea” and “earthy” flavours) the level
increased by 2-3% for natural cork, but fell by 7% for screw cap and
19% for synthetic cork. The levels of SBMP (which is thought to help
determine aroma) rose in all the bottled wine, but fell in that kept
in cartons. The results were similar for both types of grape.

Why the cartons have this effect is not entirely understood, but Dr
Pickering speculates that the wine may be seeping through the inner
polythene layers and making contact with the aluminium layer beyond.
He suggests that the alkyl-methoxypyrazine molecules may be sticking
to the aluminium and thus being segregated from the wine. If his
theory is correct, fiddling with the composition of box interiors
could be a good way for the wine industry to control the concentration
of unpleasant chemicals.

Cartons might thus assume an important role in the wine market. They
could be ideal for storing wines that are inclined to be high in alkyl-
methoxypyrazines but will be drunk relatively soon after purchase,
before oxidation can become a significant problem. For grand wines,
however, bottles with natural corks are likely to remain the packaging
of choice.

Sarahsmile231 > wrote in
:

> Either way, this article was clever and I thought I'd share it.
>
>
> The science of ageing wine
>
> Box clever
> Jun 10th 2009
> From The Economist print edition
>
> Some wine can improve if stored in a carton rather than in a bottle
>
>
>
> AMONG snobs and sommeliers, nothing can compete with wine in a glass
> bottle sealed with a cork stopper. Yet as cheap alternatives to cork
> have become available and high fuel prices have made transporting
> glass more expensive, some winemakers have adopted an alternative
> method of storage: putting wine in cartons, like those used for milk,
> made from layers of polythene, paper and aluminium foil. Admittedly,
> serving wine from a carton lacks the aesthetic appeal of a bottle, and
> cartons have also been criticised for allowing flavour-destroying
> oxygen to seep in during storage. A new study, however, reveals that
> although the criticism of wine cartons for allowing oxidation is
> valid, they have the advantage of soaking up chemicals that can ruin
> the flavour in other ways.
>
> High levels of chemicals called alkyl-methoxypyrazines can make wines
> taste as though the fruit from which they were made was under-ripe or
> low-quality. Originally grapes themselves were thought to be the only
> source of this class of compounds in wine, but recent research has
> shown that invasive Asian lady beetles (also known as Harlequin
> ladybirds) are also involved in the process. These beetles eat grapes
> and can accidentally get mixed into the winemaking process. They then
> contribute to the formation of these undesirable chemicals in some
> North American and French wines.
>
> The wine industry has tried various ways to remove alkyl-
> methoxypyrazines, but none has been particularly successful. To make
> matters worse, the Asian lady beetle is becoming more prevalent in
> Italy, Spain, Argentina and South Africa, which means winemakers from
> those regions could soon face the problem of dealing with these
> chemicals, too. But it has long been known that packaging plays a role
> in controlling wine chemistry and taste by absorbing some volatile
> compounds in a process known as “flavour scalping”. A team led by Gary
> Pickering at Brock University in Canada decided to investigate the
> impact of different forms of packaging on the concentration of alkyl-
> methoxypyrazines in wines.
>
> The researchers added three types of alkyl-methoxypyrazine to red
> (cabernet franc) and white (riesling) wines, some of which were stored
> in cartons, and others in bottles. Natural cork, synthetic cork and
> screw caps were used to seal the bottles. The researchers then
> monitored chemical levels in the wines for 18 months.
>
> They report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that at
> the end of the study the levels of the different types of alkyl-
> methoxypyrazines, known as IBMP, IPMP and SBMP, had fallen by 45%, 32%
> and 26% respectively in the wines stored in cartons. In wines stored
> in bottles, the levels of IBMP (which produces a characteristic “sweet
> pepper” taste) did not fall as much: by 37% for synthetic cork, 36%
> for screw cap and 31% for natural cork. When it came to IPMP
> (associated with “green pea” and “earthy” flavours) the level
> increased by 2-3% for natural cork, but fell by 7% for screw cap and
> 19% for synthetic cork. The levels of SBMP (which is thought to help
> determine aroma) rose in all the bottled wine, but fell in that kept
> in cartons. The results were similar for both types of grape.
>
> Why the cartons have this effect is not entirely understood, but Dr
> Pickering speculates that the wine may be seeping through the inner
> polythene layers and making contact with the aluminium layer beyond.
> He suggests that the alkyl-methoxypyrazine molecules may be sticking
> to the aluminium and thus being segregated from the wine. If his
> theory is correct, fiddling with the composition of box interiors
> could be a good way for the wine industry to control the concentration
> of unpleasant chemicals.
>
> Cartons might thus assume an important role in the wine market. They
> could be ideal for storing wines that are inclined to be high in
> alkyl- methoxypyrazines but will be drunk relatively soon after
> purchase, before oxidation can become a significant problem. For grand
> wines, however, bottles with natural corks are likely to remain the
> packaging of choice.
>
>

I am with you, a bit of a wine snob...

Glass bottles do not leach chemicals to the contents. This is why they
are a perfect container for aging wines. The boxed wines (those that you
are going to consume now have come a long way in the last 25 years. And
there are some wines in BPA free bottles that I have seen from France
(keeps shipping cost to the US down because of weight reduction).

Simply you know what water tastes like when it has been in a plastic
bottle and you know what it tastes like in a glass bottle. This part of
it is not new.

But.. for quick light reds and the whites for the summer bar-b-que or
for the group gatherings, some of the boxed wines are not bad.. just
don't plan on holding them. They are designed to drink when purchased.

On 15 Jun 2009 16:53:35 GMT, Andy > wrote:

>Glass bottles do not leach chemicals to the contents.

If only you could say the same about the corks

Incidentally, corks are good at removing flavours too, e.g. TDN - the
"kerosene" in Rieslings. And presumably lots of other aromatics.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

Steve Slatcher wrote:
> On 15 Jun 2009 16:53:35 GMT, Andy > wrote:
>
>> Glass bottles do not leach chemicals to the contents.
>
> If only you could say the same about the corks
>
> Incidentally, corks are good at removing flavours too, e.g. TDN - the
> "kerosene" in Rieslings. And presumably lots of other aromatics.
>

In the end, we'll get to where chemistry has been for 150 years: there
are precious few reasonably inert materials from which we can fabricate
containers or closures: glass, PTFE (Teflon), platinum, perhaps diamond.
Everything else runs the risk of altering, for better or worse, the
material contained.

Mark Lipton

--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

I agree with this article.

Thats why when I get my wine, I buy it in a box, then store it in the box in
a cellar so it will improve...cause if you take the wine out of the case,
and lay the bottles down, it stops getting better :-)


"Andy" > wrote in message
...
> Sarahsmile231 > wrote in
> :
>
>> Either way, this article was clever and I thought I'd share it.
>>
>>
>> The science of ageing wine
>>
>> Box clever
>> Jun 10th 2009
>> From The Economist print edition
>>
>> Some wine can improve if stored in a carton rather than in a bottle
>>
>>
>>
>> AMONG snobs and sommeliers, nothing can compete with wine in a glass
>> bottle sealed with a cork stopper. Yet as cheap alternatives to cork
>> have become available and high fuel prices have made transporting
>> glass more expensive, some winemakers have adopted an alternative
>> method of storage: putting wine in cartons, like those used for milk,
>> made from layers of polythene, paper and aluminium foil. Admittedly,
>> serving wine from a carton lacks the aesthetic appeal of a bottle, and
>> cartons have also been criticised for allowing flavour-destroying
>> oxygen to seep in during storage. A new study, however, reveals that
>> although the criticism of wine cartons for allowing oxidation is
>> valid, they have the advantage of soaking up chemicals that can ruin
>> the flavour in other ways.
>>
>> High levels of chemicals called alkyl-methoxypyrazines can make wines
>> taste as though the fruit from which they were made was under-ripe or
>> low-quality. Originally grapes themselves were thought to be the only
>> source of this class of compounds in wine, but recent research has
>> shown that invasive Asian lady beetles (also known as Harlequin
>> ladybirds) are also involved in the process. These beetles eat grapes
>> and can accidentally get mixed into the winemaking process. They then
>> contribute to the formation of these undesirable chemicals in some
>> North American and French wines.
>>
>> The wine industry has tried various ways to remove alkyl-
>> methoxypyrazines, but none has been particularly successful. To make
>> matters worse, the Asian lady beetle is becoming more prevalent in
>> Italy, Spain, Argentina and South Africa, which means winemakers from
>> those regions could soon face the problem of dealing with these
>> chemicals, too. But it has long been known that packaging plays a role
>> in controlling wine chemistry and taste by absorbing some volatile
>> compounds in a process known as "flavour scalping". A team led by Gary
>> Pickering at Brock University in Canada decided to investigate the
>> impact of different forms of packaging on the concentration of alkyl-
>> methoxypyrazines in wines.
>>
>> The researchers added three types of alkyl-methoxypyrazine to red
>> (cabernet franc) and white (riesling) wines, some of which were stored
>> in cartons, and others in bottles. Natural cork, synthetic cork and
>> screw caps were used to seal the bottles. The researchers then
>> monitored chemical levels in the wines for 18 months.
>>
>> They report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that at
>> the end of the study the levels of the different types of alkyl-
>> methoxypyrazines, known as IBMP, IPMP and SBMP, had fallen by 45%, 32%
>> and 26% respectively in the wines stored in cartons. In wines stored
>> in bottles, the levels of IBMP (which produces a characteristic "sweet
>> pepper" taste) did not fall as much: by 37% for synthetic cork, 36%
>> for screw cap and 31% for natural cork. When it came to IPMP
>> (associated with "green pea" and "earthy" flavours) the level
>> increased by 2-3% for natural cork, but fell by 7% for screw cap and
>> 19% for synthetic cork. The levels of SBMP (which is thought to help
>> determine aroma) rose in all the bottled wine, but fell in that kept
>> in cartons. The results were similar for both types of grape.
>>
>> Why the cartons have this effect is not entirely understood, but Dr
>> Pickering speculates that the wine may be seeping through the inner
>> polythene layers and making contact with the aluminium layer beyond.
>> He suggests that the alkyl-methoxypyrazine molecules may be sticking
>> to the aluminium and thus being segregated from the wine. If his
>> theory is correct, fiddling with the composition of box interiors
>> could be a good way for the wine industry to control the concentration
>> of unpleasant chemicals.
>>
>> Cartons might thus assume an important role in the wine market. They
>> could be ideal for storing wines that are inclined to be high in
>> alkyl- methoxypyrazines but will be drunk relatively soon after
>> purchase, before oxidation can become a significant problem. For grand
>> wines, however, bottles with natural corks are likely to remain the
>> packaging of choice.
>>
>>
>
> I am with you, a bit of a wine snob...
>
> Glass bottles do not leach chemicals to the contents. This is why they
> are a perfect container for aging wines. The boxed wines (those that you
> are going to consume now have come a long way in the last 25 years. And
> there are some wines in BPA free bottles that I have seen from France
> (keeps shipping cost to the US down because of weight reduction).
>
> Simply you know what water tastes like when it has been in a plastic
> bottle and you know what it tastes like in a glass bottle. This part of
> it is not new.
>
> But.. for quick light reds and the whites for the summer bar-b-que or
> for the group gatherings, some of the boxed wines are not bad.. just
> don't plan on holding them. They are designed to drink when purchased.