Oxygen and bottling

Abstract

The longevity of bottled wines is one of the most discussed topics by producers and researchers all over the world. If in the past Italian wine, except for some rare exceptions, was consumed relatively quickly and mainly in the place of origin, today it is mostly exported and has colonized the shelves and tables all over the world. This entails the need to produce wines that retain their particular characteristics for a long time, even when transport and storage conditions are not always optimal. This challenge is made even more difficult if you want to have a healthier product and therefore significantly reduce the quantities of sulfur dioxide used during the vinification and bottling processes.

In this brief focus we will talk about the importance of containing and controlling oxygen during one of the most delicate phases of the production process, the bottling phase. We all know perfectly the analytical values of the wines that are bottled, but often we fail to give due importance to the enrichment of oxygen that the wine undergoes during bottling. In this phase, in fact, the wine can reach very high values of dissolved oxygen with a consequent early loss of quality of the product, especially in white wines.