What Is Tartaric Acid In Red Wine

When you open a bottle of old red wine, there are some fine particles or crystals in the cork or wine, which is easy to suspect that it has gone bad. In fact, it is tartaric acid, which is a natural acid from grapes. If tartaric acid appears in red wine, it means that the red wine is of good quality.

What is tartaric acid

Tartaric acid exists in many plants, such as grapes, and is also one of the main organic acids in wine. As an antioxidant added to food, it can make food sour. The largest use of tartaric acid is beverage additives. It is also a raw material for the pharmaceutical industry.

The role of tartaric acid

There are three main acids in wine grapes: malic, citric, and tartaric. Most wines will have a sour taste, and this sour taste comes from tartaric acid. During the fermentation process, most of the malic acid will be converted into more mellow and mild lactic acid, while the tartaric acid is relatively stable, which will maintain the pH of the wine and keep the quality of the wine unchanged, but it is usually dissolved in the wine.

However, tartaric acid is easily affected by temperature. When the wine is cooled, tartaric acid will be precipitated from the wine. Therefore, in the long and cold winter, a small amount of tartaric acid will naturally be precipitated, so it is easier to see wines with longer vintages. But even though it is the precipitated tartaric acid crystals, it is actually harmless, just like frozen water, its nature has not changed.

In addition, the higher the quality of the wine, the greater the possibility of tartaric acid crystals appearing. Many low-quality wines will filter out tartaric acid at a stable low temperature, which can reduce the acidity of the wine, but at the same time it will sacrifice the aging ability of the wine and some flavor substances, so the taste will decrease with the reduction of acidity.

The longer the grapes ripen on the vine, the longer it takes to absorb more minerals from the soil, which meet tartaric acid to form tartar. These crystals will not be integrated with the wine, but will settle on the wall of the wine bottle, on the bottom of the bottle, on the cork or earlier in the wine barrel. The shape of tartar crystals is not regular, and sometimes it is a bit sticky