Industry and regulatory agencies have developed regulations to ensure authenticity and compliance with wine composition limits. However, this can be truncated by the absence of simple and robust analytical methodologies, uninfluenced by the environment, different oenological techniques and cultural practices. Genetic fingerprinting is the most powerful tool for unequivocal varietal identification; it is not affected by the environment or agronomic practices; however, its usefulness in musts and wines has been controversial and there is currently no routine certification of varietal origin based on DNA analysis.

Monferace project is born from an idea of 12 winegrowers willing to create a new “old style” Grignolino wine and inspired byancient winemaking techniques of this variety (1). Monferace wine is produced with 100% Grignolino grapes after 40 months of ageing, of which 24 in wooden barrels of different volumes. Grignolino is an autochthonous Italian variety cultivated in Piedmont (north-west Italy), recently indicated as a “nephew” of the famous Nebbiolo (2) and is used to produce three different DOC wines. The Monferace Grignolino is cultivated in the geographical area identified in the Aleramic Monferrato, defined by the Po and Tanaro rivers, in the heart of Piedmont and the produced wine is characterized by a high content of tannins, marked when young, that evolve over the years. Its color is generally slight ruby red and garnet red with orange highlights with ageing.

In this video recording of the IVES science meeting 2025, Jordi Ballester (Centre des sciences du goût et de l’alimentation, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Dijon, France) and María-Pilar Sáenz-Navajas (Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y el Vino (ICVV) (CSIC-UR-GR), La Rioja, Spain) speak about the concept of natural wine. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on OENO One.

Recently, the European Commission seems to have inaugurated a new mechanism for regulating the wine sector. Through two communications, articulated in the form of “Questions & Answers”, concerning the new rules for labeling (24.11.2023) and dealcoholization of wine (15.01.2024), the Commission is not simply “explaining” the new rules but, in an approach close to the theory of “Circulaire Normative” established in comparative law, chooses among different interpretations and even adds Praeter Legem constraints.

This study examined volatile compounds in Feteasca Neagra wines from seven vineyards across three PGI regions in Moldova using GC-IMS.