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Verre vinaigre

Also: winemaking - red - rosé - white

Why wine does not turn into vinegar ?

Sulphur dioxide, in spite of its barbaric name, is an element indispensable for the quality of the wine (see composition of wine).

It is composed of sulphur and oxygen. Fermentation naturally produces small amount of it.

Winemakers add more to the wine. Sulphur dioxide is to wine what aspirin is to human beings: the miraculous remedy which cures all sort of diseases and avoids others.

Sulphur dioxide is a bactericide which prevents wine from changing into vinegar. It inhibates the action of yeasts; it is why sweet wines do not go on fermenting after bottling.

On top of that it is an antioxidizer. It allows wine to keep all its freshness and avoids its alteration by its enemy: the oxygen.

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