Wine tartaric stabilization by electrodialysis and its assessment by the saturation temperature Original Research Article

This investigation of electrodialysis is carried to assess the potassium hydrogen tartrate (KHT) removal for wine tartaric stabilization. The tartaric stability is assessed through the wine saturation temperature. The extent of KHT removal is varied depending on the duration of the electrodialysis up to 24%. The removal of the cations K+, Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ and of the anions corresponding to tartaric, malic, and lactic acids was monitored. The experiments were performed in a pilot scale electrodialyser with 28 dm2 of membrane area. Wine saturation temperatures varied linearly with the deionization. For the white wine, a saturation temperature of 14.8 °C and stability up to 0 °C was achieved for a deionization of 14.5% and tartaric acid removal of 10.9%. The lactic and malic acids contents were kept almost constant and the calcium content reduced by 39%. The red wine displayed, without any treatment, a low saturation temperature of 9.2 °C associated to a stable wine.