A fine scale study of temperature variability in the Saint-Emilion area (Bordeaux, France)

Fermentative maceration in white wine production, involving extended contact with grape skins and seeds, has gained interest in recent years. The impact of this winemaking technique on wine composition and sensory properties remains underexplored.

In Franconia, the northern part of Bavaria in Germany, climate change, visible in earlier bud break, advanced flowering and earlier grape maturity, leads to a decrease of traditionally cultivated early ripening aromatic white wine varieties as Mueller-Thurgau (30 % of the wine growing area) and Bacchus (12 %). With the predicted rise of temperature in all European wine regions the conditions for white wine grape varieties will decline and the grapes themselves will lose a part of their aromatic and fruity expression. Variety change towards the cultivation of later ripening white wine varieties is a very expensive and long-term process, and must be accompanied by special marketing efforts.

In this video recording of the IVES science meeting 2024, Mariona H Gil i Cortiella (Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile) speaks about the impact of type of winemaking vessel on the chemical composition and sensory attributes of Sauvignon blanc wines. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on IVES Technical Reviews.

In the Champagne’s region, a complete press cycle is a series of pressure increases (squeezes) and decreases (returns). After alcoholic fermentation, the two wines (the “cuvee” and the “tailles”) obtained from grape juice fractions exhibit strong differences for numerous characteristics. Nevertheless, there is no study of the impact of the press cycle, followed after each pressure increase (22-28 steps), on wine colour, current analyses and phenolic composition. So, the aim of this study (vintage 2020) was to investigate the composition changes of Pinot noir and Pinot meunier wines, produced from 22-28 grape juices isolated for each complete pressing cycle.

High power ultrasound has been recently recognized one of the most promising technologies in winemaking processes, especially after the recent OIV resolution, concerning the application of ultrasounds on crushed grapes to promote the extraction of skin compounds.