The article in Practical Winery & Vineyard presented experiments that showed the benefits of glutathione, a tripeptide consisting of glutamine-cysteine-glycine as being a better antioxidant than ascorbic acid or sulfur dioxide when the press fraction of the must is treated in a reductive environment.1
In benign neglect hyperoxidation, the initial press fraction is left in an oxidative environment and the glutathione is free to react with the phenols in the must. The fate of the glutathione is enumerated in a previous blog called Hyperoxidation Revisited. There were five experiments carried out in South Africa and Bordeaux:
- Case Study 1: Reductive handling of all fractions
(Durbanville, South Africa) - Case Study 2: Reductive handling of all fraction
(Stellenbosch, South Africa) - Case Study 3: Oxidative handling of press fraction
(Stellenbosch, South Africa) - Case Study 4: Comparison between reductive and oxidative handling (Bordeaux, France)
- Case Study 5: Comparison between fining agents with reductive handling (Bordeaux, France)
1. Paul K. Bowyer (Technical Manager, Laffort Australia), Marie-Laure Murat (Lab Manager, Sarco, France), and Virginie Moine-Ledoux (Research Director, Laffort), "SAUVIGNON BLANC: Impact of fining treatments on juice quality", Practical Winery & Vineyard, May/June 2010, pg. 25-33.
2. Wikipedia image of Glutathione. All structures were drawn by the freely available drawing program from ACD Labs called ACD/ChemSketch Freeware.
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Hi Sunny,
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