From rotten eggs to passionfruit – the pungent world of wine sulfur compounds

What makes some wine divine and some disgusting? It all boils down to sulfur compounds, sometimes naughty and sometimes nice. Sulfur compounds are the good, the bad and the ugly of wine aroma compounds, being responsible for the delicious passionfruit and grapefruit flavours in your sauvignon blanc, the flintiness in your chardonnay, the truffle and forest floor characters in your pinot noir - but also the asparagus in your old sav and the onion, garlic and rubber in an unfortunate red.

Rebecca will take you on a journey of the wine making process and explain how sulfur compounds, which make up around 10 percent of wine aroma compounds, can be the difference between a sip of indulgence or an instant regret.

Bio

Dr Rebecca Deed is a lecturer in wine science at the University of Auckland.  Her research walks the interdisciplinary line between wine yeast biology and analytical chemistry to understand the mechanisms behind the formation of aroma compounds in grape juice and wine. She is also a senior judge at national wine competitions and has judged for Liquorland, the New Zealand Aromatic Wine Competition, the New World Wine Awards, the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards and Winestate Magazine.

6:30pm @Carmen Jones,382 Karangahape Road, Auckland 1010

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Pat Bullen.