Article on Wine Chemistry

Interesting article about wine chemistry professor Andrew Waterhouse:

“As soon as I heard I got the job, I started reading,” he remembers. “Professionally, I knew nothing. I was a wine lover, but I had no idea what was in wine, really, other than alcohol.” Now he studies wine’s complex natural products, such as flavonoids. “Winemakers call it chicken wire chemistry,” he says, because the hexagons in the flavonoid structures resemble chicken wire to those untrained in chemistry.
Waterhouse says when he first started at UC Davis he tried to teach organic chemistry to budding winemakers the same way he taught it to premeds. “It didn’t work,” he says. For example, when he taught his students about terpenes—important flavor compounds in certain wines such as Rieslings—he discussed how the compounds undergo acid-catalyzed rearrangement during aging.
“I was showing the students allylic cations forming, rearranging, and eliminating. And it was completely useless to them,” he says. “They have to understand something about terpene chemistry, but they don’t have to understand mechanistic transformations from one terpene to another.” This made Waterhouse completely rethink how he taught chemistry to these students. He needed to talk about chemistry that would be useful in wine making. “That’s why they take classes—they want to understand what’s happening so they can manage it better. It’s a very applied use of chemistry.”

Read the full article here:

Considering buying his book. Here’s a peek:

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Wine-Chemistry-Andrew-Waterhouse/dp/1118627806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495743388&sr=8-1&keywords=Understanding+Wine+Chemistry

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Wine-Chemistry-Andrew-Waterhouse/dp/1118627806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495743388&sr=8-1&keywords=Understanding+Wine+Chemistry

My chemistry heart started to pound harder while reading the article. I couldn’t find much reference to the book. Do you have any info?

Thanks for posting this Barry.

You’re welcome! The book is here:
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Wine-Chemistry-Andrew-Waterhouse/dp/1118627806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495743388&sr=8-1&keywords=Understanding+Wine+Chemistry

Like most textbooky books it is not inexpensive. The cost of a decent napa cab.

Enjoy!

B.

For those who prefer a gentle intro into wine chemistry this offers a good overview.
http://guildpodcast.com/wine-chemistry
An in depth interview with UC Davis Professor of Enology Dr. Andrew Waterhouse on the chemistry of wine.

Thanks for the recommendations, I’m a first order geek and love all things in this wheelhouse, especially if they pertain to wine.