Acid-Base Chemistry of White Wine: Analytical Characterisation and Chemical Modelling

A chemical model of the acid-base properties is optimized for each white wine under study together with the calculation of their ionic strength taking into account the contributions of all significant ionic species (strong and weak electrolytes sensitive to the chemical equilibria). Coupling the HPLC-IEC and HPLC-RP methods, we are able to quantify up to 12 carboxylic acids, the most relevant substances able to determine the acid-base equilibria of wine. The analytical concentration of carboxylic acids and of other acid-base active substances was used as input, with the total acidity, for the chemical modelling step of the study based on the contemporary treatment of overlapped protonation equilibria. New protonation constants were refined (L-lactic and succinic acids) with respect to our previous investigation on red wines. Attention was paid formixed solvent (ethanol-watermixture), ionic strength, and temperature to ensure a thermodynamic level to the study. Validation of the chemical model optimized is achieved by way of conductometric measurements and using a synthetic “wine” especially adapted for testing.