Does Light Affect Wine Quality?

The short answer is that light can definitely affect wine, but we need to take a closer look at the physics and chemistry of it all to understand why and how in what is called light-strike reactions, which can impart off-odors to wine, what the French call goût de lumière.

Wine, Light & Dark Glass Bottles

Wine is sensitive to the damaging rays of light, particularly ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight and fluorescent lighting; that's why wine (and beer) is packaged in dark bottles-the best example is Port in those familiar, dark, opaque bottles. Wines packaged in clear glass bottles are meant for quick consumption and should be stored in carton boxes until such a time.

Light, Wine And Bottles

 All forms of radiation, including visible light ultraviolet (UV) rays and X-rays, have energy that is directly proportional to their frequencies or inversely proportional to their wavelengths-that is, high-frequency waves have short wavelengths, and vice versa. And the greater the energy, the greater the catalytic effect of chemical reactions in wine.

Why are most wine or liquor bottles made of glass?

Glass bottle is a traditional domestic beverage packaging vessel, and glass is also a kind of packaging material with historical significance. With a variety of packaging materials sprouting up in the markets, glassware still occupies a vital influence in beverage packaging, which is closely related to its packaging characteristics that other packaging materials cannot match.

According to statistics, 71% of wine utensils in the world are made of glass, and China is the country with the largest proportion of beer bottles in the world, accounting for 55% of all glass beer bottles, exceeding 50 billion bottles every year. Apart from opening glass bottles, I have not seen other packaging for wine, health-care wine, and bee wine. This can be seen from the key influence of glass bottles on wine packaging. So why are so many wine bottles made of glass?