Minerals can play a second role as well. Some minerals are present in large quantities, others little or none; but trace minerals may have an important catalytic role to play in overcoming kinetic barriers along the energy ladder in which redox reactions arrange themselves. We don’t know all the ins and outs, but it’s plausible that specific mineral mixes can essentially constitute a multistage battery in the wine. UC Davis phenolics expert Andy Waterhouse has shown the importance of iron in catalyzing the vicinal diphenol cascade.
