Subject: FWD: Barn Lovin Bimbos hugdt Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 21:03:12 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.2 X-Originating-IP: 47.35.235.64 X-Bogosity: No, tests=bogofilter, spamicity=0.561943, version=0.15.11

reduction, esterification, etc.), I am persuaded that the true reaction barrier lies closer to the high energy barrier than the low energy barrier. The results are summarized in the TABLE.

As the data in the TABLE show, going from 55°F to 73°F, an increase in temperature of 18°F(10°C), doubles the rate of a reaction if it has a LOW energy barrier. If the reaction has a HIGH energy barrier, the rate of the reaction increases by a factor of eight for this temperature difference.Translated, this means if your cellar is at 73°F instead of 55°F, your wine ages 2.1 to 8.0 times faster than if it were at 55°F. Thus, 3 years at 73°F is equivalent to between 6.3 and 24 years of aging at 55°F. These differences are very significant.

rground temperature is around 13°C. Thus, the "ideal" seems to have been the result of regional custom and practice rather than scientific study.

What will happen to a wine stored at room temperature (73°F) in a dark closet rather than in a temperature-controlled environment of 55°F, the commonly accepted "ideal" temperature? This is the question I will attempt to answer in the following discussion. To do this, we must consider some chemical principles to help us understand why high temperature is detrimental to wine.

rground temperature is around 13°C. Thus, the "ideal" seems to have been the result of regional custom and practice rather than scientific study.

It gets worse as the temperature difference increases. As seen in the TABLE, a change from55°F to 91°F increases the rate 56 times for reactions with HIGH energy barriers and 4.1 times for reactions with LOW energy barriers. So if your storage is at 91°F instead of 55°F, your wine ages 4.1 to 56 times faster than if it were stored at 55°F. One month of aging at 91°F is equivalent to between 4 months and 18 years of aging at 55°F. As stated earlier, the "true" situation probably closer to the 18 year end of the range. These calculations show that higher temperatures markedly speed up the aging process and result in maturation of a wine over a very short time.

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