chemistry people...

I wouldn't say spoof, but I'd definitely be curious to see how this affects the wine, flavor-wise. If you buy water at a grocery store Reverse Osmosis unit, the water is usually sterilized this way. UV breaks chemical bonds, and in my estimation would be very likely to have effects on the flavor of the wine. As to how much, I can't really even speculate.

Hope that helps,

Kevin
 
Wouldn't call it spoof. UV definitely is used for sterilizing things like water, some food products and such... but given that UV does tend to kick-start a whole lot of reactions through ionization or radical formation, I'm not sure what the long term implications might be in terms of aging. Treating water with this is hardly an issue as you're dealing with very few (if any) volatile chemicals - but here I'm not sure how smart it is to blast acids/phenols/alcohols with UV rays, given that it could very easily spark other unwanted reactions.
 
I have a UV system on my home water supply as it is spring water. It works very well and the water tastes great. Also, in my experience apple cider that has been UV treated tastes much better/fresher and apple-like than cider that has been pasteurized. As far as wine goes I have no idea but it sounds like something worth testing out.
 
Certainly not spoof, but, as others have mentioned, bombarding a complex mixture of organics with UV light is bound to have some unintended effects.

Another concern I have seen mentioned is that the existence of a powerful, late stage, sterilization technology like this one allows the wine/fruit juice/milk maker to be much more lax about microbial contamination earlier in the process, which is not necessarily a good thing.
 
I am not particularly worried about pathogens in wine. The pH and alcohol do a pretty solid job there, as our ancestors have long known.

But there are some pretty good absorbers of UV in wine, particularly in red wine, and I wonder how much chemistry goes on there. Not to say that I worry about generating toxins very much, though it is a hypothetical possibility, but rather that you may make more changes to the wine than just crosslinking adjacent T's in microbial DNA.

I would think empirical study could tell us a lot.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
I am not particularly worried about pathogens in wine. The pH and alcohol do a pretty solid job there, as our ancestors have long known.

But there are some pretty good absorbers of UV in wine, particularly in red wine, and I wonder how much chemistry goes on there. Not to say that I worry about generating toxins very much, though it is a hypothetical possibility, but rather that you may make more changes to the wine than just crosslinking adjacent T's in microbial DNA.

I would think empirical study could tell us a lot.
Click to expand...

I think that the empirical study has already been performed. Common wisdom holds that wine is best kept away from heat and light, which I think likely stems from the less-than-salutary effects of UV on the flavor or aging potential of the wine. At least, to the best of my knowledge, wine doesn't get skunky upon irradiation.

Mark Lipton
 
The skunky thing is a particular cis/trans isomerization, but memory fades. Don't think the metabolites are present.

Also, must or early wine would have a much higher level of disposable chromophores. A bunch of things you could nuke now and lose later and not care.

I have no idea how significant this would be.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
The skunky thing is a particular cis/trans isomerization, but memory fades. Don't think the metabolites are present.

Also, must or early wine would have a much higher level of disposable chromophores. A bunch of things you could nuke now and lose later and not care.

I have no idea how significant this would be.
Click to expand...

The skunky thing was just a throw-away comment as it pertains only to a certain component of beer, which you and I both could look up if it really were of any interest.* My major worry about wine would be the high UV extinction coefficient of the polyphenolics, which could lead to UV-induced damage and compromised aging potential.

Mark Lipton

* Story heard in grad school from chemist taking trans-Atlantic flight: person in seat next to him strikes up conversation, turns out to be Alfa-Aesar salesman. Asks chemist if he knows who biggest customer for NaBH4 is. Of course the answer is wrong. Salesman then informs him that it's Miller Brewing Co. Oh, yeah, clear bottles...
 
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