Wine Imports

The first strategy is to rmdertake a superficial scan of mainstream textbooks that everyday situations have been connected to cormnon school chemistry textbooks. For example, student-exercises may contain informatiorr, about contaminants in a river such as lead salts, about acid-base indicators in plants or about food additives for the preservation of wine. However, implicit confusion may (and frequently will) occur when the textbook and the teacher aim at reaching the right answer, for example the correct calculation of the concentration of an additive in gram per litre or parts per million (ppm). Students may still pose questions such as How many glasses of wine can I drink before 1 will get sick What is the effect of alcohol on my body Why is the addition of sulphite to wine important Is the same fact tme for red wine Or even further Shouldn t the government prohibit the addition of sulphite In this way students can become personally involved in subjects that can be related to their learning of chemical substances, and even to atoms and molecules. But, the student-activities in mainstream school chemistry textbooks often are not focused on this type of involvement they do not put emphasis in the curriculum on personal, socio-scientific and ethical questions that are relevant to students lives and society. 

However, as a result of the overall low-production of Vin Santo and its split into different denominations in wine growing areas of central and northern Italy, it is very difficult to find complete information on the production of this wine through the years. Moreover, in the official statistics of wine import and export, Vin Santo and other passito wines are not counted separately, but instead together within the class of all other high-quality wines (Vqprd and Vlqprd). 

Table 39,—Wine Imports as Shown by the Reports of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Fiscal Years 1901 to 1931, Inclusive...

Wines may be imported for reasons at either of two extremes because they are relatively inexpensive, or because they are in high demand, and thus command a higher price. Those exported from the United States tend to be the former, and those imported, the latter, based on the data shown in Table 5. There is some market, even in countries that are overproducing wine, for wines with exotic labels. This tendency illustrates another way in which wines differ from other products. Information on and cuisine from foreign countries associated with their wines serve as the vehicles for a form of a cultural exchange, besides the stricdy commercial one. 

The important role wines and their production have had in ancient times as well as in more modem periods of history, particularly in relation to science and technology, deserves wider appreciation. 

Biochemistry resulted from the early elucidation of the pathway of enzymatic conversion of glucose to ethanol by yeasts and its relation to carbohydrate metaboHsm in animals. The word enzyme means "in yeast," and the earfler word ferment has an obvious connection. Partly because of the importance of wine and related products and partly because yeasts are relatively easily studied, yeasts and fermentation were important in early scientific development and stiU figure widely in studies of biochemical mechanisms, genetic control, cell characteristics, etc. Fermentation yeast was the first eukaryote to have its genome elucidated. 

Varietal labeling is an important quaUty factor in the United States, and indirectly elsewhere because only certain specific varieties are planted in each prestigious foreign area. U.S. law currently requires that 75% of the wine must come from the V. vinifera variety named on the label. Concord-type varieties only require 51%, owing to their intense, distinctive flavor. If more than one variety is named, the relative amounts must total 100%. 

Vineyard site is important to wine quaUty and character and interacts with variety. The general climate must not be too cold, too hot, or too humid. A mild, dry climate that still induces a dormant season, like the Mediterranean area and California, is desirable. A relatively constant weather pattern year-to-year is also sought. The nearer to the limits of cold tolerance, for example, that the climate comes, the more likely are disastrous vintages. The modifying influence of close bodies of water, sun-facing slopes, or frost-resisting air drainage can make one vineyard more desirable than another nearby. 

Regulations specify a considerable Hst of additives and treatments which may be permitted under controlled limits and conditions. It is important to note that no wine receives mote than a few of these treatments, and many have none. For example, most grape musts ferment readily without additions, but some extra nitrogen source for the yeasts is occasionally beneficial. If some is requited, ammonium phosphate is the most commonly used. 

Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites. Sulfur dioxide [7446-09-5], SO2, sodium bisulfite [15181-46-1], NaHSO, and sodium metabisulfite [23134-05-6] ate effective against molds, bacteria, and certain strains of yeast. The wine industry represents the largest user of sulfites, because the compounds do not affect the yeast needed for fermentation. Other appHcations include dehydrated fmits and vegetables, fmit juices, symps and concentrates, and fresh shrimp (79). Sulfites ate destmctive to thiamin, and cannot be used in foods, such as certain baked goods, that ate important sources of this vitamin. 

The alloys of titanium utilised in industrial applications have compositional specifications tabulated by ASTM. The ASTM specification number is given in Table 14 for the commercially important alloys. MiUtary specifications are found under MIL-T-9046 and MIL-T-9047, and aerospace material specifications for bar, sheet, tubing, and wine under specification numbers 4900—4980. Every large aircraft company has its own set of alloy specifications. 

---