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The science of wine

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  harold mcgee 
#1 ·
Mr. McGee,
I'd just like to start by saying that your book is the best piece of literature to ever happen to the culinary arts.
My question is with regards to wine. How is it possible for a wine maker to produce flavors from a grape -- raspberries, allspice -- without actually introducing that product? Is there perhaps a formula or is it just plain luck? If there is in fact a science, would one be able to apply it to the culinary arts. Say a pear sauce that contains no pears?
In conclusion, thank you for your time, it is greatly appreciated.
 
#4 ·
Flavor is a wonderful and endless subject—which is why I want to write a book about it! Very briefly, the surprising aromas in wine are mostly the product of the yeasts that convert grape sugars into alcohol. Yeasts are amazing chemical workhorses, and they transform all kinds of grape components into new molecules. There is in fact a big business in flavor chemistry, and many flavors can now be bought off the shelf, some extracted from real ingredients, others totally synthetic (for example, true vanilla extract and synthetic vanillin, made from wood pulp). The chemists are getting better and better at imitating nature.

Harold
 
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