On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 11:32:50 -0500, Mark Lipton >
wrote:

>Mike Tommasi wrote:
>> Yes, cognac is made almost entirely from Trebbiano grapes picked early
>> (for some reason, distilling requires wine with high acidity, anyone
>> know why?).
>
>Fascinating question, Mike. I would hazard a guess that its another
>facet of the observation that more highly acidic wines tend to age
>better (within limits, of course). I suspect that the high acidity
>helps protect the wine from extreme maderization during the distillation
>process by partially suppressing oxidation. (Acids slow the oxidation
>of the phenolics in wine by keeping the phenols protonated).

Makes sense Mark. Avoids having to add lemon juice ;-)))

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France
email link http://www.tommasi.org/mymail