Effect of post-harvest ozone treatment on secondary metabolites biosynthesis and accumulation in grapes and wine

In view of sustainability and zero-waste initiatives, the valorisation of sidestreams is a key emerging topic in the wine industry.

The exploitation of food by-products has garnered significant attention over the past few decades, particularly within the framework of the European Green Deal.

The current levels of greenhouse gas emissions are expecting to provoke a change on the environmental conditions which, among others, will include a rise of global mean surface temperature and an increment of atmospheric CO2 levels (IPCC, 2014), known as climate change. The response of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), one of the most important crops in Europe, from both a cultural and economic point of view, is not completely understood yet and the studies considering the interaction between factors are scarce. Besides, the potential variety of responses among somatic variants needs to be studied in order to be exploited in the avoidance of undesired traits linked to climate change (Carbonell‐Bejerano et al., 2015).

Trebbiano di Lugana (TdL) is a white variety of Vitis vinifera mainly cultivated in an Italian area located south near Garda lake (Verona, north of Italy). This grape cultivar, also known as “Turbiana,” is used for the production of TdL wine with recognized Protected Designation of Origin whose volatile profile was recently determined [1]. The presence of varietal thiols in TdL, namely 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol and its acetate form, conferring the tropical and citrus notes, has been documented. Winemaking strategies were also described with the purpose of protecting and maintain these desired aromas [2]. To the best of our knowledge, the varietal thiol precursors (VTPs) were not previously determined in TdL grape and must. This study aimed to quantify VTPs in both grape during the ripening and must during the pressing. Volatile C6 compounds were also measured in the must fractions.

We evaluate wine ratings by comparing data from two crowdsourcing platforms – Vivino, which aggregates the opinions of a large number of wine lovers, and Global Wine Medal Rating, which aggregates the scores from more than 1030 international wine competitions since 2020.