THE COLOR OF WINE - A HISTORICAL-PERSPECTIVE .1. SPECTRAL EVALUATIONS

In the 1930s trade transactions required that the color of wine be mor e rigidly specified. The wine-colorimeter was useful with this purpose . Intensity of color was the first property to be considered. From the beginning of this century visual comparisons of wines with standard m ixtures of dyes or colored substances (potassium permanganate and dich romate) were made. Later photometric studies (absorption curves) were developed. Maxima and minima in the absorption curve were defined, as well as their relationships. Recently, it has been shown that absorban ce values at given wavelengths and luminosity are well correlated.