Alimentary film to reduce cork taint and improve wine organoleptic quality

During bottle aging, many thiol compounds are involved in the expression of bouquet of great aged red wines according to the quality of the closure.1,2 Identifying thiol compounds in red wines is a challenging task due several drawbacks including, the complexity of the matrix, the low concentration of these impact compounds and the amount of wine needed.3,4 This work aims to develop a new strategy based on the functionalisation of oak wood organic extracts with H₂S, to produce new thiols, in order to mimic what can happen in red wine during bottle aging. Following this approach and through sensory analysis experiments, we demonstrated that the vanilla-like aroma of fresh oak wood was transformed into intense “meaty” nuances similar to those found in old but non oxidized red wines.

Pulsed electric fields (pef) technology holds significant promise for the agrifood industry, considering the capacity of inducing cell electroporation, due to the disruption of cellular membranes. Pef-induced permeabilization is dependent of the chosen treatment protocol (i.e. Pulse shape, electrical field strength, specific energy) and of the matrix’s characteristics (i.e. Cell radii and size, ph, electrical conductivity).

Severe water stress events can induce cavitation damage by xylem embolism in grapevine, diminishing plant hydraulic conductance. This work aimed to determine the rootstock effects on 1) xylem embolism vulnerability to understand its function failure under severe drought, including segmentation processes from leaf to root; and 2) hydraulic conductance across water deficit and its recovery. For this purpose, two complementary experiments were performed in one-year-old Vitis vinifera cv. Tempranillo grafted onto two different rootstocks (110-Richter and SO4) under well-watered 12L pot conditions. In experiment 1, the water-stress induced xylem embolism was monitored in leaves and stems, above and below grafting-point, by using “Cavicam” for determining the percentage of embolized vessels (at P12, P50 and P88).

The qualitative and quantitative distribution of the phenolic compounds in red wines depends on cultivars features, on grapes maturation state, on grapes processing technology including must obtention, as well as on maceration-fermentation method (Margheri, 1981). The last two factors are responsible for the different phenolic composition of the wines produced from the same cultivar.

The O2 uptake in the different winemaking processes is generally considered to be negative for the sensory characteristics of white and rosé wines. Wine racking is a critical point of O2 uptake, as the large surface area of the wine exposed during this operation and the inability to maintain an effective inert gas blanket over it.
The objective was to study O2 uptake during the racking of a model wine without using inert gases and to compare it with the purging of the destination tank with different inert gases.