Characterization and biological effects of extracts from winery by-products

Wine aroma analysis can be done by sensorial or instrumental analysis, the latter involving several me-thodologies based on olfactometric detection, electronic noses or gas chromatography. Gas Chromatography has been widely used for the study of the volatile composition of wines and depending on the detection system coupled to the chromatographic system, quantification and identification of individual compounds can be achieved.

Artificial intelligence (AI) for winegrowers refers to robotics, smart sensor technology, and machine learning applied to solve climate change problems. Our research group has developed novel technology based on AI in the vineyard to monitor vineyard growth using computer vision analysis (VitiCanopy App) and grape maturity based on berry cell death to predict flavor and aroma profiles of berries and final wines.

Agriculture worldwide is threatened by climate change. In particular, declining water resource availability combined with increasing water demand is a key challenge in many rainfed areas, where irrigation appears to be a straightforward adaptation option. In this context, assessing the impacts of irrigation adoption on farm yields and incomes is a necessary step to reflect on the impact of both ex-post and ex-ante policies.

Barrel fermentation and barrel-ageing of wine are commonly utilised practices in premium wine production. The wine aroma compounds related to barrel contact are varied and can enhance a range of wine aromas and flavours, such as ‘struck flint’, ‘caramel’, ‘red berry’, ‘toasty’ and ‘nutty’, as well as conventional oaky characters such as ‘vanilla’, ‘spice’, ‘smoky’ and ‘coconut’. A survey of commercially produced premium Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines was conducted, assessing the prevalence of compounds that have been proposed as barrel-ageing markers¹ including oak lactones, volatile phenols, furanones, aldehydes, thiazoles2,3, phenylmethanethiol⁴ and 2-furylmethanethiol.⁵

The context of climate crisis leads to the acceleration of technological ripening of grapes, with unsuitable loss of acidity, so various vineyard management alternatives are being considered to delay the grape ripening. The delay of the vegetative cycle towards a period of milder temperatures affects ripening, but vine behavior can vary according to the area, conduction, watering, variety, etc. A work is proposed to know the response to the green pruning of shoots, executed in fruit set and in pea size, in cv. Verdejo.