So interesting question came up, and not sure where to go, but figured this was a good spot to ask.
Does any one know the decay rate of added sulfur in wine? TIA.
In bottle or barrel?
And really, it is wine dependent also.
As Linda suggested it is not as straightforward as one thinks. The pH of the wine determines the SO2 to HSO3- equilibrium. This equilibrium is affected by wine constituents that are known to bind the HSO3- form. More binding causes SO2 to shift to the HSO3- form to re-establish the equilibrium. Only small amounts of SO2 acts as an antioxidant for reaction with peroxide. So the point is that in the post bottling(equilibrium and bound forms are established) world the only significant loss of SO2 happens through cork evaporation. There was a 1982 German study on 2 white wines that showed a 20-30% loss of total SO2(all forms) after a 5 yr period when stored at 12C. There are other studies that demonstrate accelerated loss at elevated temperatures above ambient room temp. In these studies it shows that total SO2 loss is 2-3 times faster in red wines over white. Is this the kind of info you were looking for?..Gary
And I knew I left something out!
Bottle, and Pinot Noir.
So the reason for my question is this…(forgive me if I don’t get this 100% right, as I’m going on what someone else said to me)
My Rosenthal rep told me that Jean Marie Fourrier believes that the 2004 Burgundies will come around, and that the “green meanies” were brought about by the addition of sulfur during winemaking, and that if people had used sulfur in the vineyards before harvest (well, not right before, but somewhere during the growing season), that the green meanies would have been avoided (or so the story was told to me). So the question was raised yesterday amongst a group of us at work, if this IS in fact the case, will the sulfur die off first, or will the fruit die first (assuming that there hasn’t been some level of damage already done to the wine b/c of some chemical reaction that already took place).
Thoughts???
Well, sulfur use in the vineyard, and the sulfites we use in the winery are a bit different, and are used for different reasons. And I’m not sure why they would say “green meanies” and sulfur use in wine would have anything to do with one another.
The elemental sulfur used in the vineyard is to prevent fungal infestations/mildew. In the winery we use potassium metabisulfite, which is sulfur-containing, but different than elemental sulfur. Now, if you WAY over add KMBS (potassium metabisulfite, which converts to SO2 in the wine) at bottling, it can definitely mute the fruit and alter the aromas of wine, but again, I wouldn’t even say that example would give a “green” aroma.
Maybe if there was some mildew in the vineyard and sulfur was not added, I could see that effecting the wine in the way you mention, but not in the wine itself. Also, if there was mold on the grapes, you could get any number of bacterial effects such as higher VA, or other off flavors. I’m not sure what specific problems there might have been.