Bottling white wine in clear glass is an error

O enophiles may have noticed a disturbing recent trend. Whites, hitherto normally sold, like their red cousins, in green bottles, are now starting to appear in clear ones. This is reckoned to boost sales by showing off the liquid within. But, though it may entice the eye, such packaging gives the nose reason to despair. Light is a potent driver of chemical change. And a study by Silvia Carlin, Fulvio Mattivi and their colleagues at the Edmund Mach Foundation, in northern Italy, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows it is right to be concerned.