Fish Dishes: Why Red Wine Does Not Fit
October 23rd 2009 -
Fish and red wine do not go together – that rings true for the Japanese researchers have now found a scientific explanation: whether the simultaneous consumption of fish or seafood and wine there is an unpleasant aftertaste will depend on the iron content of the wine. Both tasting and chemical analysis confirmed the suspicion of investigators. Takayuki Tamura, scientists at the research and development laboratory of the Mercian Corporation, one of Japan’s leading wine companies, published their findings in the journal “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry” (doi: 10.1021/jf901656k).
Red wine with red meat, white wine with fish and seafood – in many cases, this recommendation is really meaningful. Because with the combination of red wine with fish does not come often an unpleasant intrusive fish flavor. However, there are wines for which this effect does not occur or only very weakly. Why, no one could yet say.
Researchers led by Takayuki Tamura now suspected as the culprit of iron contained in red wine, because the iron content of red wine is much higher than that of white wine. To verify their hypothesis, they first conducted a wine tasting: six wine experts tasted 38 reds and 26 whites, whose iron content, the scientists had previously determined. The wines were different ages, and each came from different countries, areas and from different grape varieties. To test participants ate the scallops, and are generally no fishy taste.
The results of the tasting: An unpleasant taste occurred particularly in the reds, namely, the stronger was the higher the iron content. In a second experiment, the participants tasted wine, which had been additionally treated with iron, and those in which the researchers had removed the iron. Again, the hypothesis was confirmed: wine, which had developed together with the Shells formerly an unpleasant aftertaste, now no longer fell to negative. Conversely, the unpleasant taste has been reinforced by artificial injections of iron. During the chemical analysis of scallops soaked in wine, the researchers finally found the perfect volatile organic compounds that are responsible for the rancid flavor.
Wine drinkers can benefit from the findings of the researchers, however, only partly because the iron content of a wine is the least-known winemakers and wine merchants – especially since a number of factors including variety, cultivation land, region, and storage time depends on how the researchers noted. Here, then just continue to try and help.
Tags: fish dishes, red wine
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