PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Seiichi Kodama AU - Toshimasa Suzuki AU - Shohei Fujinawa AU - Pete de la Teja AU - Fumio Yotsuzuka TI - Urea Contribution to Ethyl Carbamate Formation in Commercial Wines During Storage AID - 10.5344/ajev.1994.45.1.17 DP - 1994 Jan 01 TA - American Journal of Enology and Viticulture PG - 17--24 VI - 45 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/45/1/17.short 4100 - http://www.ajevonline.org/content/45/1/17.full SO - Am J Enol Vitic.1994 Jan 01; 45 AB - A two-year storage test using commercial wines confirmed that ethyl carbamate formation is closely related to the urea content. The ethyl carbamate formation rates at 10°C to 40°C were represented by linear equation against urea concentration in wine. Mathematical evaluation of the equations indicated that urea content in wine should be reduced to less than 2 mg/L in order to keep the ethyl carbamate content within the current target levels of the wine industry: 15 µg/L in table wines and 60 µg/L in dessert wines. It was found that, upon storage for six months at 40°C, ethyl carbamate level of the wines treated with acid urease was significantly lower than that of the untreated wines. The activation energy to form ethyl carbamate in wine was found to range between 21 kcal/mol and 28 kcal/mol which is similar to the activation energy level in other systems such as Japanese sake and simulated wine (a model wine system).