tartaric acid

When you open a bottle of old wine, you may find some small, almost transparent crystals on the wine cork or in the wine liquid. Many people may think that this is glass slag. In fact, it is tartaric acid.

Tartaric acid is a natural ingredient found in grapefruit and other fruits that form crystals at low temperatures. In northern Europe, the winters are long and cold, and the tartaric acid contained in the wine tends to crystallize during the aging process.

The tartaric acid in the wine cellar will wait until next spring and summer, when the climate is warmer, the wine will be slightly filtered and then bottled, and the tartaric acid crystals attached to the barrels and fermentation tanks will be scraped off by hand. Tartaric acid is an additive often used in making cakes. It neutralizes the alkalinity of protein, helps the protein to rise, and enhances the flexibility of the cake.

In warm climates, tartaric acid crystals generally do not appear in wine unless the wine is kept at low temperatures.

Interestingly, opinions are divided as to whether tartaric acid crystals can affect the quality of the wine. Although tartaric acid is non-toxic and harmless, if tartaric acid crystals appear in wine bottles, some consumers do not recognize this substance, and they easily think that there is a problem with the quality of the wine, or mistakenly think that there is glass residue in the wine.