AROMA AND SENSORY CHARACTERIZATION OF XINOMAVRO RED WINES FROM DIFFERENT GREEK PROTECTED DESIGNATIONS OF ORIGIN, EFFECT OF TERROIR CHARACTERISTICS

Premium red wines are often aged in oak barrel. This widespread winemaking process is used, among others, to provide roundness and complexity to the wine. The study of wine evolution during barrel aging is crucial to better ensure control of wine quality.
¹H-NMR has already been proved to be an efficient tool to monitor winemaking process [1]. Indeed, it is a non-destructive technique, it requires a small amount of sample and a short time of analysis, yet it provides clues about several chemical families.

Wine polysaccharides (PS) play an important role in balancing mouthfeel and stability of wine and even influence aroma volatility. Despite this, there is limited research into the effect of winemaking additives on the polysaccharide profile and other macromolecules of New Zealand (NZ) Pinot noir wine. In this study the influence of a selection of commercial S. cerevisiae strains on the chemical profile, including polysaccharides, of New Zealand Pinot noir (PN) wine was investigated. Research scale PN fermentations using five strains of commercially available S. cerevisiae (Lalvin EC1118 and RC212, Levuline BRG YSEO, Viallate Ferm R71 and R82) were undertaken. PS were qualified and quantified using HPLC-RID.

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.

Biofilms are sessile microbial communities whose lifestyle confers specific properties. They can be defined as a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to a surface and considered as a method of immobilisation. Immobilised microorganisms offer many advantages for industrial processes in the production of alcoholic beverages and specially increasing cell densities for a better management of fermentation rates.

All along the red winemaking process, many microorganisms develop in wine, some being beneficial and essential, others being feared spoilers. One of the most feared microbial enemy of wine all around the world is Brettanomyces bruxellensis. Indeed, in red wines, this yeast produces volatile phenols, molecules associated with a flavor described as “horse sweat”, “burnt plastic” or “leather”. To produce significant and detectable concentrations of these undesired molecules, the yeasts should first grow and become numerous enough. Even if the genetic group of the strain present and the cellar temperature may modulate the yeast growth rate¹ and thus the risk of spoilage, the main factor seems to be the wines themselves, some being much more permissive to B. bruxellensis development than others.