Iron in Wine — A fishy outcome?
It’s fairly common knowledge that it’s best to pair red wine with red meat, rather than with fish. Rules like this are socially accepted and followed, but it’s probably not often that people wonder WHY these rules are in place. Turns out, it’s science!
Japanese researchers have found that different red wines contain different types and amounts of iron, some of which can designate a fishy aftertaste. Until now, nobody could consistently predict which wines might trigger a fishy aftertaste because of the lack of knowledge about its cause.
“Strong positive correlations were found between the intensity of fishy aftertaste and the concentration of both total iron and ferrous ion,” the researchers said in a statement.
Their study, published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, was based on studying 38 commercial red wines from a list of countries, 26 white wines, two sherries, and one each of port, madeira and botrytized wine.
The components of all of the wines were analyzed and wine samplers then tested the wines while dining on scallops.
“They found that wines with high amounts of iron had a more intensely fishy aftertaste. This fishy taste diminished, on the other hand, when the researchers added a substance that binds up iron,” the researchers said.
They said the findings indicate that iron is the key factor in the fishy aftertaste of wine-seafood pairings but this also meant that low-iron red wines might be a good match with seafood.
Last week, the Science Center partnered with the Wine Market to discuss another type of wine pairing — Italian wines with the inventions of Italian genius Leonardo Da Vinci! The Science Center often hosts wine tastings and lectures so please check back with us if you would be interested in attending one! We appreciate your feedback.
msnbc.com
