Chemistry of Wine

This is a STEM-related non-AWIS-SD event that may be of interest to our members.

Join us for an exceedingly entertaining and educational evening with expert wine educator and chemistry professor, Dr. J. Ernest Simpson. Explore the why’s and how’s of your favorite wines with this structured wine tasting and lecture. Whether you’re the experienced oenophile or the wine lover “in waiting,” this event is sure to be a pleasure for all. All proceeds support our K-12 nanoscience STEM education programs.

The lecture will include an overview of wine and wine making and more detailed descriptions of the chemical composition of grapes and wine, laboratory methods for analysis of grapes and wines, sensory and organoleptic methods used for wine, the role of tannin and other phenolic compounds in wine, and some potential health aspects of wine.

Combined with the lecture is a “component and varietal analysis”. During the component analysis, the audience will be given a reference wine sample with known levels of components such as acid, sugar, alcohol, etc. and then “unknown” samples in which one or more components have been increased by a known increment. During a varietal analysis a representative number of white and red wines will be compared.

Who Should Attend