Message in a Bottle: Deconstructing wine from a chemist's prespective

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Message in a Bottle: Deconstructing Wine from a Chemist's Perspective Gregory Cook Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, North Dakota State University In Vino Veritas, in Latin translates as, "In Wine [there is] truth." The consumption of wine in the US has been rising steadily for at least the last 15 years. This has been partly spurred by recent press touting the health benefits of wine. From heart disease to cancer to Alzheimer's, wine seems to be a magic elixir to cure all. But what is wine and is it as healthy as we are told? How is wine produced? What are these antioxidants? How do you tell if a wine is corked? Where does that vanilla flavor in my wine come from? How can wine prevent cancer? These are some of the many questions to be explored as we take a journey from grape to bottle from a taster's and a chemist's perspective.