Dr Michelle Dickinson: Nanogirl on the wine bottle effect

Have you ever stood in front of a row of wine bottles at the supermarket wondering which one to buy? 
Well this week science might be able to help you with your decision, if looking for white or rose wine, don't buy the ones in the clear bottles! 
It's been known for a long time that light (sunlight and fluorescent supermarket lights) can damage chemcials in wine which change the taste and smell of the wine.  That's why wine cellars are cool, dark spaces. 
White and rose wine drinkers however seem to like to look at the colour of their wine before they buy so the marketing team of a winery will often bottle their wines in transparent glass bottles to let you look before you buy even though they know that will damage the wine. 
A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that within 7 days of being stored on a supermarket shelf in a transparent bottle, wines can go from tasting sweet and fruity to having the aroma of wet dog or boiled cabbage! 
In the study the researchers stored over 1000 bottles of wine in different coloured bottles in an imitation supermarket and chemically analysed them periodically. 
They found that wine stored in dark or green bottles remained completely stable even after 50 days on the shelf.  
However, white and rose wine stored in transparent bottles showed changes in two aromatic compounds - norisoprenoids and terpenes after only 7 days which led to the wine losing it's fruity aroma. 
So the next time you are looking for some wine - don't pick the one with the fancy label, pick the one in the green or brown bottle!

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