The Degradation of Wine: An Experimental Design Project for Analytical Chemistry and Beyond

After it is opened and exposed to oxygen, a bottle of wine will eventually spoil, due to oxidation of the ethanol and polyphenols therein. The storage conditions of the opened wine affect the rate of this process, which can take place in a matter of days to weeks. Students in the Integrated Chemistry Laboratory course at Rocky Mountain College were prompted to develop and carry out experiments to study how two separate variables of their choosing affect the rate of this oxidative spoilage. The students chose to use both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and made measurements and observations over the course of several weeks. This chapter describes the learning objectives of the project, the experiments the students carried out, as well as how the project may be tailored to suit laboratory courses at other institutions.