They do? I thought EA was the final phase and if a wine started to show EA, there was pretty little to be done to save the thing.
Also, having tasted some wines from 1960’s and 1970’s with heavily EA-dominated character, I thought it really doesn’t go anywhere. How long does it take down to break it, if it doesn’t happen in half a century? Or does the process need something else to break the EA down?
In a wine bottle, oxygen is getting in pretty slowly. As long as there is still alcohol present, the bacteria will be converting it to VA, the VA to EA, etc. It doesn’t take much for it to be noticeable. So, I agree that once a bottle has VA/EA, it’s there for good for all practical purposes. The alcohol would all be gone before the bacteria could convert all of the EA (and that would require a lot of oxygen).
-Al
I think Otto was asking about what the EA is converted to.
Ultimately, it all breaks down into CO2 and water, although I don’t know all the pathways. Even the production of acetic acid and ethyl acetate aren’t simple direct processes, there are multiple steps and other things produced as well, and the fermentation pathways depend on species/strains of bacteria, pH, and undoubtedly other factors.
I thought Otto’s main point was that once a bottle has VA/EA, it’s not going away. I agree. The bacteria need oxygen to ferment things and, if there is oxygen, it will continue to produce VA/EA from the ethanol. Even in a bottle that reeks, they have only converted a fraction of the alcohol.
-Al
Well, basically all my questions and theoretical future questions got answered. Thanks Al.