Chemical Additives to Reduce Browning in White Wines

¹ University of Arkansas, Department of Food Science, Fayetteville, AR 72703.

Juices from two white grape cultivars, Aurore and Cayuga, received 13 different wine treatments to determine effects on browning in wine. The chemicals, used alone and in combination, were ascorbic acid, hypophosphorous acid, thiodipropionic acid, Trolox-C, stannous chloride, Sporix, and sulfur dioxide. All chemicals, except SO₂, were added to wine made from nitrogen-sparged juice. One lot of the wine received no treatment. All treatments were stored at 20°C and 37°C for nine months and exposed to air after three and six months storage to accelerate browning. The use of SO₂ during bottling resulted in the least browning, and the use of SO₂ during crushing resulted in the most browning. Wine treated with the other chemicals had less browning than the wine produced from the nitrogen-sparged juice but had more browning than the untreated wine. The addition of ascorbic acid and most of the ascorbic acid combinations reduced browning to a greater extent than any of the other chemicals or combinations.

Key words: browning, oxidation, sulfur dioxide, white wine