Bottles – glass and plastic compared

Oxidation, oxidation, oxidation. Not a recent UK election slogan modelled on Tony Blair's 2007 priorities for government, 'Education, education, education', but definitely a hot potato in the world of wine, and the subject of a current wine-packaging study at Bordeaux University. Results at the 12-month stage are revealing and seem pretty clear-cut.

The study, entitled the 'Influence of packaging on wine preservation', is being carried out by the ISVV, the Institute for Vine and Wine Sciences in Bordeaux (formerly the Bordeaux Institute of Oenology), the 'largest wine and vine research and technology transfer centre in Europe'. It aims to evaluate...