**6. Conclusions**

The autoxidation of tartaric acid in the presence of Fe(II) has been demonstrated in solution over the pH range 2.5 to 4.5. A mechanism that can describe the observations is proposed and fitted to a kinetic model. Preliminary estimates of the rate constants are presented. The effects on these reactions due to additions of ethanol, sulfur dioxide and copper at wine-like conditions are described. The implications of this radical chain reactions sequence to describe the autoxidation of wine and idea of radical chain propagation in wine are discussed.
