If someone tells you that their wine has turned to vinegar, don’t offer to make a salad dressing out of it. Contrary to popular belief, turning wine into vinegar is almost a great a feat as turning water into wine. More after this.
Most people believe that if you leave a wine open or expose it to heat that it will eventually turn to vinegar. In fact, many have tried to accomplish this feat with absolutely no success.
That’s because vinegar is actually a mild solution of something called acetic acid, which is created when a specific bacteria feeds on sugar. The acetic acid is a by-product of this metabolic process.
Now while Ethanol, the alcohol contained in wine, can certainly be converted to vinegar, wine does not contain any of the chemicals necessary for this conversion to take place. When wine TURNS, it simply spoils.
The confusion is likely the result of our familiarity with a product called WINE VINEGAR. Wine Vinegar is in fact made from a wine base, but it cannot be made without first adding a wine starter which is a specific species of bacteria used to make vinegar.
You can actually purchase this bacterium and make wine vinegar at home. But simply letting wine turn will make something you will have to pour down the drain, not on your salad! Remember, Vinegar is cheap. Wine isn’t!
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