Organic Acid Composition of Quality Wines and Correlation Among Their Organic Acid Components

Abstract

Organic acid composition of quality wines (106 samples) and correlation among eight factors of their organic acid components were examined. Japanese wines in which malolactic fermentation (MLF) scarcely occurred contained relatively smaller amounts of TOA (total amounts of six organic acid components) than those of German and French Chablis wines. German wines (Kabinett, Spdtlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein) showed the largest amounts of malic acid among six organic acid components and ratios of M/T (Malic acid/Tartaric acid) in the wines significantly higher than those of Japanese and French Chablis wines. French Chablis and red wines had considerable amounts of lactic acid which were formed by high occurrece of MLF. Highly significant negative correlation between malic acid and lactic, acetic or succinic acid, and positive correlation between malic acid and TOA or M/T were found in the whole samples. It was confirmed that malic acid very significantly contributed to organic acid compositions in wines. Correlation among the factors in each wine type was considerably different. However, amounts of tartaric and malic acids were highly signicantly correlated to TOA or M/T in all wine types.