Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

(dimethyl dicarbonate), a sterilant used by a number of producers of high-quality red wine outside Europe to eliminate the risk of brettanomyces growth in bottle. DMDC works by deactivating enzymes in the spoilage yeast. Any remaining DMDC reacts principally with the water in the beverage. It is currently approved in the United States, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand for use in the production of dry wines. In the eu, it is authorized up to a maximum of 200 mg/l. While it was originally developed for commercial wines, it has been accepted more widely for higher quality wines.