Andrew Clark

Professor Andrew Clark

Wine Chemist

Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences

Biography

Professor Clark has a research focus in the area of wine chemistry.

More specifically his research group studies the oxidative and reductive development of wine. Their aim to progress knowledge in this area to limit the spoilage of wine during its aging in bottle. This has involved detailed investigations into the reactions of phenolic compounds and/or ascorbic acid in wine, and the identification of the products eminating from such reactions. The involvement of metal ions in the wine development mechanisms has also been studied, and novel approaches have been developed to enble the measurement of different forms of metals in wine. Research has also been conducted on the impact of light on wine development.

Although many branches of chemistry are drawn upon for such studies, analytical chemistry is probably the underpinning discipline in the work conducted by Professor Clark and his research group. This has included extensive work with liquid and gas chromatographies, with their various detectors (i.e., QTOF, QQQ and SCD), and electrochemical and colorimetric analyses.

An example of the key outcomes emanating from the recent work by Professor clark and his research group are:

  • Knowledge on how forms of metal ions impact wine during oxidative and reductive aging
  • Research techniques for the measurement of different metal forms in wine
  • Applied techniques for wineries to allow measurement of total Cu and its different forms in red and white wines
  • Insights on how to relate the different forms of metal ions to wine stability during the aging of wine in bottle.
Research
  • Wine oxidation
  • Wine reductive development
  • Wine phenolic compounds
  • Metal speciation measurements
  • Electrochemistry
Publications
Full publications list on CRO

Recent publications

  • Vongluanngam, I., Zhang, X., Blackman, J., Schmidtke, L., Wilkinson, K. L., & Clark, A. (2024). Changes in Cu fractions and riboflavin in white wines during short-term light exposure: impacts of oxygen and bottle colour. Abstract from OENO Macrowine 2023, Bordeaux, France.
  • Zhang, X., Blackman, J.W., & Clark, A.C. (2023). Ascorbic acid addition to rosé: Impact on the oxidative and reductive development of bottled wine. Food Chemistry, 424, [136418]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.136418
  • Zhang, X., Blackman, J. W., Prenzler, P. D., & Clark, A. C. (2022). Suppression of reductive characters in white wine by Cu fractions: Efficiency and duration of protection during bottle aging. Food Chemistry, 393, 1-10. [133305]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.133305
  • Zhang, X., Bowyer, P., Scollary, G.R., Clark, A.C., & Kontoudakis, N. (2022). Sulfide-bound copper removal form red and white wine using membrane and depth filters: Impacts of oxygen, H2S-to-Cu ratios, diatomaceous earth and wine volume. Food Chemistry, 377, [131758]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131758
  • Zhang, X., Kontoudakis, N., Wilkes, E., Scrimgeour, N., Hirlam, K., & Clark, A.C. (2021). The removal of Cu from wine by copolymer PVI/PVP: Impact on Cu fractions and binding agents. Food Chemistry, 357, [129764]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129764