14 DAY TRIAL // We humans have been drinking wine for millennia now. Sure, we regret it the day after, what with the terrible headaches it inflicts on us, but we never seem to learn our lesson and simply give it up once and for all.
Then again, why should we? It might be that it packs some not-so-pleasant side effects, but the fact of the matter is good wine is a delight to our senses.
In a new video, available below, scientists with the American Chemical Society explain why different wines have different aromas. You see, it all comes down to the compounds that are floating around in the bottle.
For starters, it must be said that a wine's aroma depends on the grapes it was made from, the soil that fed those grapes and the climate in which they matured and ripened. The barrels a wine variety is kept in also changes it.
Because the ripening process slows at cooler temperatures, wine varieties made from grapes grown in cold climates have more subtle flavors and contain less alcohol.
Grapes originating from warm climates, on the other hand, produce more robust wines. Of course, the minerals present in the soil also matter, and quite a lot.
As for the distinctive aroma of our favorite wines, it is the result of a cohort of chemical compounds produced during the fermentation process.
