Light Strike Awareness: Is sunshine ruining your wine?
What is the latest thinking on the potentially damaging effects of light on sparkling wine and what can be done to avoid them?
The famous Italian scientist Galileo Galilei is quoted as saying “Wine is sunlight, held together by water.” But once the wine is bottled, light can ruin it in less than an hour.
Plumpton Wine Division (the UK center for wine education, research, and training), The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC), and Brad Greatrix, winemaker at Nyetimber, have joined forces and used the summer solstice to raise awareness of the dangers of light strike, particularly for wines bottled in clear glass. Light-strike taint (