Investigating the role of tartaric acid in wine astringency

Previous studies acknowledged that tartaric acid-imparted low-pH contributed to the enhancement of astringency, but in-depth studies are lacking and the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. This work introduced new insight into the effect of tartaric acid on astringency perception from the perspectives of complex formation, protein secondary structure, chemical bond type and salivary layer fluidity by establishing models using proteins (α-amylase, salivary proteins) and tannic acid. Results demonstrated that tartaric acid affects wine astringency by two mechanisms: a) Tartaric acid compound directly affects the wine astringency by forming ternary complexes and causing the protein structure to stretch by changing the hydrogen bond and hydrophobic bond between protein-polyphenol complexes. b) pH affected astringency by increasing the fluidity of the salivary layer rather than increasing the consumption of the salivary layer. The findings provide valuable information to the wine industry to regulate wine astringency by the management of tartaric acid.