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Lexicon

The largest wine encyclopedia in the world with 26,707 Terms.

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Sulphurous acid

Non-volatile medium-strength acid (international name dihydrogen sulphite), which is produced by introducing sulphur dioxide into water. It is an inorganic acid. When heated, it can oxidise into the much stronger and more harmful sulphuric acid. The salts and esters are called sulphites.

When sulphur dioxide is added to mash, must or wine, most of it is converted into sulphurous acid, with only a small amount remaining as sulphur dioxide. The sulphurous acid in wine is in equilibrium with sulphites (SO₃²-) and hydrogen sulphite ions (HSO₃-). Both form compounds with various substances in the wine. The proportion that does not react with other wine components is known as free sulphurous acid. The amount depends on the temperature and pH value, but is usually around 20%. This means that around 80% of the sulphurous acid is present in the wine in bound form.

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The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

26,707 Keywords · 47,082 Synonyms · 5,302 Translations · 32,037 Pronunciations · 244,058 Cross-references
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