Ascorbic acid addition to rose': Impact on the oxidative and reductive development of bottled wine

The impact of ascorbic acid on the oxidative and reductive development of rose wine during bottle ageing has not been previously established. A rose wine that contained 0.25 mg/L of Cu was bottled with levels of 0, 50 or 500 mg/L of ascorbic acid and different total packaged oxygen concentrations (3 and 17 mg/L), and was stored for 15 months at 14 degrees C in darkness. Ascorbic acid increased the first-order oxygen consumption rate from 0.030 +/- 0.001 to 0.040 +/- 0.001 days (1), and decreased the mole ratio of total SO2 consumed to oxygen consumed from 1.0:1 to 0.7:1. Although ascorbic acid did accelerate the loss of a Cu form that can suppress reductive aromas, it did not induce reductive aromas. These results indicate that ascorbic acid can accelerate the removal of oxygen from bottled rose wine while maintaining higher concentrations of sulfur dioxide, however, it did not promote reductive development.