Wine spoilage

Volatile Acidity. Acetic acid is the primary acid formed during wine spoilage. Legal limits for it exist in all wine-producing countries, varying from 0.10 to 0.25% exclusive of sulfur dioxide and sorbic acid. The United States and California State limits are among the lowest. Good... 

Malfeito-Ferreira, M., Barata, A., and Loureiro, V. (2009). Wine spoilage by fungal metabolites. In "Wine Chemistry and Biochemistry", (M. V. Moreno-Arribas and M. C. Polo, Eds), pp. 615-625. Springer, New York. 

Unfortunately, uncontrolled MLF also presents a risk of wine spoilage by compounds that can produce off-flavours (including acetic acid, volatile phenols and mousiness) or that may be hazardous to human health (such as ethyl carbamate and biogenic amines). The most important aspects of the development of LAB and MLF in wines are dealt with in this chapter. 

Besides carrying out MLF, under certain conditions LAB can also cause undesirable changes in wine flavour which render the wine undrinkable. Many species of LAB do not conduct MLF and their growth in wine can cause some serious wine spoilage. The nature and extent of this spoilage depend on several factors such as the type of bacteria, composition of the wine and vinification practices specific types of spoilage are associated with a restricted number of lactobacilli. 

Beneduce, L., Spano, G., Venule, A., Tarantino, D., Massa, S. (2004). Molecular characterization of lactic acid populations associated with wine spoilage. J Basic Microbiol., 44, 10-16. 

Of all the wines studied, a large number contain concentrations of CS2 far higher than those we recorded, which could contribute to wine spoilage. Moreover, carbon disulphide can evolve in the presence of alcohol into ethyl monothiocarba-mate, although we did not detect this compound. We have conducted experiments to... 

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