Conserving food products has been a human necessity since ever. When conserving wine, and given it suffers oxidation through the action of chemical agents, temperature, light and other microorganisms, its conservation brings some challenges.
First of all, wine is composed by several components present in the grapes and alcoholic fermentation (water, acids, alcohol, tannins, etc) which, in the case of red wines, influence its colour.
Given that, its quality depends on the quantity and relationship of these components, as well as its characteristics, which depend on the grape varieties, harvest conditions, alcoholic content and vinification techniques used to transform the grapes into wine.
Being a food product and assuming its conservation has to be positive, sometimes sulphites and other preservatives like sorbic acid are added in order to assure quality, delay deterioration and avoid changes, either on the appearance and taste.
When added, the sorbic acid works as an antimicrobial and antifungal, neutralizing yeasts and moulds. It is generally used before the bottling so that it avoids refermentations, specially in wines with high residual sugar.
Cheers!
