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Can a synthetic version of wine be made that lacks the various wine faults that happen to regular wines?
There are many situations that wine develops an unwanted off flavor, the main ones being problems during the production of wine, the storage of wine, and also chemical reactions that occur after wine is exposed to air when opened. In theory all of these issues can be solved by making synthetic wine, but the one that come to interest the most is the last one, imagine a wine that can be opened and than stored indefinitely with minimal changes to the flavor profile, much like how most distilled alcohols are minimally effected by time.
The most significant thing that would need changed to produce a long term stable wine is either the addition of a preservative or the addition of alcohol. For my method I will focus on raising the alcohol content of the formulation to 18% alcohol by volume, which will render the final product perfectly shelf stable.
Here is a list of the ingredients used to make synthetic wine according to this chart
Amino Acids
Alanine- slightly sweet and slightly bitter
Proline- slightly sweet
glycene- sweet and slightly meaty
Acids
Tartaric Acid- Clean sourness with medium strength, grape like
Malic Acid- Sharp acidity with a puckery bite, like apples and sour candy (think warheads candy)
Lactic Acid- Funky and sour, common in fermented foods, more vinegar like than citric acid like
Sugars
Fructose- Sweeter, common sweetener aftertaste.
Sucrose- Less sweet but more fruit like, a common sugar and considered to have the best mouthfeel and most natural aftertaste
Aroma Compounds
Ethyl Butyrate- Fruity, pineapple like, boozy, ethery
Isoamyl Alcohol- boozy, banana, whiskey
Limonene- Comes in two isomers, wine has both-
- D-Limonene- Citrus, fresh citrus, indistinct citrus notes, not complex.
- L- Limonene- Turpentine, Pine, Bergamot, some citrus notes 1)
Now this list offers a good start to understanding the aroma compounds and some of the amino acids that are in wine, but is far from complete for making a decent of usable artificial wine. A more complete list, specifically of aroma compounds can be pulled from this paper
2,3-butanedione-
hexan-1-ol-
methionol-
2-methylpropanoic acid-
2-methylbutanoic acid-
3-methylbutanoic acid-
2-methylpropyl ethanoate-
ethyl phenylacetate-
ethyl 3-methylbutanoate-
ethyl 2-methylpropanoate-
ethyl 2-methylbutyrate-
ethyl butanoate-
ethyl decanoate-
ethyl hexanoate- Waxy pineapple, like pineapple skin
ethyl octanoate- winey, fruity, pear, apricot, brandy
butanoic acid-
decanoic acid-
hexanoic acid- fatty, cheesy, goaty
octanoic acid- fatty, cheesy, rancid, boiled vegetables
isobutyl alcohol (2-methylpropan-1-ol)- ethereal, wine ike
ethyl acetate- weedy, green fruity, ethereal, grape
isoamyl acetate- boozy, banana, whiskey
There is also the addition of some acetic acid listed, which occurs naturally in wine, but for our purposes needs to be excluded as it will react with the ethanol and produce more ethyl acetate, which will change the wine over time and eventually become strong enough to be an off flavor.