When wine is served in a restaurant, the waiter often allows the host (the perso

Question

When wine is served in a restaurant, the waiter often allows the host (the person who pays the bill) to examine the cork and gives the host a small sample of the wine before serving to the other guests. The host then smells the cork, smells the wine, and finally tastes it. Wine that has turned bad often smells like vinegar.

Why do the host and waiter do such a thing instead of serving food to the ladies first (I know, that is sexist, but it happens.) like he/she would do for the rest of the food? Write a chemical equation for what is going on (don't worry about subscripts, just type them on the same line.). What type of reaction is this?

Explanation / Answer

The wine turns into vinegar, if the acetobacter is allowed to enter into it. The bacteria is practically present everywhere, so one cannot actually stop this process to happen , once the cork of the wine bottle has been opened , and the contents are allowed to sit open for longer duration.

So the waiter usually allows the host to check for the cork and taste a sample of it , so that the host ensures that the wine being served is good enough and the bottle is not previously opened.

The reaction of wine to vinegar is given as :

CH3CH2OH + O2 = CH3COOH + H2O

The chemical reaction is the oxidation reaction , as the ethanol in the wine has got oxidised to acetic acid, in the presence of bacterial enzymes.

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