Vineyard soils and landscapes of the Burgundy Côte (France): a historical construction worth preserving

Oak wood selection and maturation are essential steps in the course of barrel fabrication. Given the existence of many factors involved in the choice of raw material and in natural seasoning of oak wood, it is very difficult to determine the real impact of seasoning and selection factors on oak wood composition. A sampling was done to study the evolution of oak wood chemical composition during four seasoning steps: non matured, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months. For this sampling, three selection factors were taken into account: age, grain type and the Polyphenolic Index measured by Oakscan®. Besides extractables
(~10%), three polymers constitute the main part of oak wood: cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignins.

Flow cytometry (FCM) is a powerful technique allowing the detection, characterization and quantification of microbial populations in different fields of application (medical environment, food industry, enology, etc.). Depending on the fluorescent markers and specific probes used, FCM provides information on the physiological state of the cell and allows the quantification of a microorganism of interest within a mixed population. For 15 years, the enological sector has shown growing interest in this technique, which is now used to determine the populations present (of interest or spoilage) and the physiological state of microorganisms at the different stages of winemaking.

For the purpose of producing predicate wines in northern part of Croatia, grapes are traditionally left on the vine unpicked. However, grapes on the vine are exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions that affect rapid rotting and attacked by birds. To eliminate the mentioned risks, the grapes can be picked and placed in a protected space (loft, greenhouse, etc.) suitable for drying. This study presents the results of research on withering grapes of the ‘Moscato giallo’ variety in two tretment: sun drying (under covered terrace) and drying in the shade (loft). The following quality parameters were monitored: mass of grapes, sugar concentration, content of total acids, pH, content of organic acids.

The Txakoli, a white wine produced in the Basque Country (North of Spain), has recently gained popularity due to wine quality improvement and increase in both acreages of production and wine consumption. The aim of this study was to characterize the chemical and microbiological differences between Txakoli wines made with grapes from different sites.

he use of high-power ultrasound (US) is proving of great interest to the oenological industry due to its effects in the improvement of wine organoleptic characteristics, especially in terms of color [1, 2].