PROBING GRAPEVINE-BOTRYTIS CINEREA INTERACTION THROUGH MASS SPECTROMETRY IMAGING

Young white wines are typically released to the market a few months after harvest, to be consumed within a year, when their fresh fruity aromas are still dominant and appealing to modern consumers. Esters, particularly higher alcohol acetates (HAAs) and ethyl esters of fatty acids (EEFAs), play a central role in the fruity expression of young white wines [1]. However, these esters are known to undergo significant hydrolysis during the first months of aging [1, 2].

Pinot Blanc, an important grape variety grown in some mountain areas of Northern Italy such as South Tyrol over the last decades, with its cultivation covering 10.3% of the total vineyards, has compatible climatic conditions (e.g. heat requirements) which are normally found in the geographical areas of the mountain viticulture [1,2,3,4]. Climatic changes are hastening the growth of this variety at higher elevations, particularly for the production of high quality wine.

This study is aimed to develop a complete tool for the winemaker with, complete and targeted “winemaking recipes” that can be adapted to criteria set by the winemaker, such as: grape variety, grape health status, degree of ripening, desired wine, redox status throughout the alcoholic fermentation.
To get such aim, specific sets of experiments using red grape juices from different varieties (Nebbiolo, Barbera, Pinot noir, etc.) collected at different technological and phenolic maturity points, will be held with “automatized 4.0 tanks” equipped with sensors for measuring: redox potential, dissolved oxygen, relative density, temperature, and color in order to collect a sufficient amount of data preparatory to the creation of operating models in the most widely winemaking situations in which the automatized 4.0 tanks “will be able to independently respond” with the right corrective actions (opening/closing aeration valve, execution/block pumping overs , etc.) if the key parameters exceed the limits of the recommended ranges set in the selected recipe.

Smoke taint (ST) is a grape-wine off-flavour that may occur when grapes absorb volatile phenols (VPs) originating from wildfire smoke (1). ST is associated with the negative sensory attributes such as smoky and ashy notes. VPs are glycosylated in the plant and thus present in both free and bound forms (2; 3). Wildfire smoke has resulted in a decline in grape and wine quality and financial losses which has become a prominent issue for the global wine industry.

Wine grape pomace quantitatively and qualitatively represents the most important fraction of wine waste. Namely, this by-product makes ~ 20% of the total mass of vinified grapes, and it is characterized with high concentrations of polyphenolic antioxidants, as well as grape seed oil. Hence, valorization of wine pomace, as an alternative to traditionally employed disposal, has drown considerable interest in recent years. Earlier studies were mostly focused on the extraction of phenolics, while mechanisms enhancing the extraction of lipid fraction from grape pomace, as well as their impact on the grape seed oil quality are far less investigated.