Macrowine 2021
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 The role and quantification of vitamins in wine: what do we know?

The role and quantification of vitamins in wine: what do we know?

Abstract

AIM: Vitamins are essential compounds to numerous organisms, including yeasts, and appear highly significant during winemaking processes. Acting as cofactors in major yeast metabolic pathways, such as those of alcohols, amino acids and fatty acids, it appears very likely that their involvement in fermentation courses, as well as in the development of aromatic compounds in wine is consequential.

METHODS: Numerous assays have been developed to determine and quantify vitaminic contents in grape musts and wines. Microbial assays, relying on the specific growth requirements of selected microorganisms, were the earliest methods used pursuing this goal, however poorly precise and accurate. Methods relying on vitamin properties, such as acid titrations and spectrophotometry have also been used to quantify vitamins in grape musts and wines, although they require specific physicochemical properties, and do not allow for simultaneous determination of several vitamin groups.

RESULTS: As a consequence, contemporary techniques, such as chromatography-based methods, stand as efficient means to quantify vitamins in grape musts. However, no method has recently been developed to assay vitamin contents in this specific matrix. Similarly, assays relying on spectroscopy and electrophoresis, proved efficient in simultaneously quantifying vitamins in several fruit matrixes, appear promising for extension towards the grape must and wine matrixes. In addition, winemaking processes, such as the addition of sulfites or clarifying agents, or vatting lengths have been shown to significantly impact vitamin contents.

CONCLUSION

The development of more methods to quantify vitamins in grape musts, relying on more sensitive and precise recent analytical techniques could offer ground for a broad range of prospects in the wine science field. Such developments could support better comprehensions of yeast requirements during winemaking, and allow for finer modulations of the processes, as well as elucidate the role of vitamins in the development of aroma in wines

DOI:

Publication date: September 7, 2021

Issue: Macrowine 2021

Type: Article

Authors

Marie Sarah Evers

University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, AgroSup Dijon, PAM UMR A 02.102, VAlMiS-Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin, 2 rue Claude Ladrey, 21000 Dijon, France SAS Sofralab, 79, Avenue A.A. Thévenet, BP 1031, Magenta, France,Chloé ROULLIER-GALL, University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, AgroSup Dijon, PAM UMR A 02.102, VAlMiS-Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin, 2 rue Claude Ladrey, 21000 Dijon, France Christophe MORGE, SAS Sofralab, 79, Avenue A.A. Thévenet, BP 1031, Magenta, France Celine SPARROW, SAS Sofralab, 79, Avenue A.A. Thévenet, BP 1031, Magenta, France Antoine GOBERT, SAS Sofralab, 79, Avenue A.A. Thévenet, BP 1031, Magenta, France Hervé ALEXANDRE, University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, AgroSup Dijon, PAM UMR A 02.102, VAlMiS-Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin, 2 rue Claude Ladrey, 21000 Dijon, France

Contact the author

Keywords

vitamins ; fermentation ; enology ; yeasts ; metabolism

Citation

Related articles…

Climate, Viticulture, and Wine … my how things have changed!

The planet is warmer than at any time in our recorded past and increasing greenhouse emissions and persistence in the climate system means that continued warming is highly likely. Climate change has already altered the basic framework of growing grapes for wine production worldwide and will likely continue to do so for years to come. The wine sector can continue to play an important role in leading the agricultural sector in addressing climate change. From developing on…

Towards a regional mapping of vine water status based on crowdsourcing observations

Monitoring vine water status is a major challenge for vineyard management because it influences both yield and harvest quality. It is also a challenge at the territorial scale for identifying periods of high water restriction or zones regularly impacted by water stress. This information is of major importance for defining collective strategies, anticipating harvest logistic or applying for irrigation authorisation. At this spatial scale, existing tools and methods for monitoring vine water status are few and often require strong assumptions (e.g. water balance model). This paper proposes to consider a collaborative collection of observations by winegrowers and wine industry stakeholders (crowdsourcing) as an interesting alternative. Indeed, it allows the collection of a large number of field observations while pooling the collection effort. However, the feasibility of such a project and its interest in monitoring vine water status at regional scale has never been tested.

The objective of this article is to explore the possibility of making a regional map of vine water status based on crowdsourcing observations. It is based on the study of the free mobile application ApeX-Vigne, which allows the collection of observations about vine shoot growth. This information is easy to collect and can be considered, under certain conditions, as a proxy for vine water status. This article presents the first results obtained from the nearly 18,000 observations collected by winegrowers and wine industry stakeholders during 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. It presents the vine shoot growth maps obtained at regional scale and their evolution over the three vintages studied. It also proposes an analysis of the factors that favoured the number of observations collected and those that favoured their quality. These results open up new perspectives for monitoring vine water status at a regional scale but above they provide references for other crowdsourcing projects in viticulture.

The rootstock, the neglected player in the scion transpiration even during the night

Water is the main limiting factor for yield in viticulture. Improving drought adaptation in viticulture will be an increasingly important issue under climate change. Genetic variability of water deficit responses in grapevine partly results from the rootstocks, making them an attractive and relevant mean to achieve adaptation without changing the scion genotype. The objective of this work was to characterize the rootstock effect on the diurnal regulation of scion transpiration. A large panel of 55 commercial genotypes were grafted onto Cabernet Sauvignon. Three biological repetitions per genotype were analyzed. Potted plants were phenotyped on a greenhouse balance platform capable of assessing real-time water use and maintaining a targeted water deficit intensity. After a 10 days well-watered baseline period, an increasing water deficit was applied for 10 days, followed by a stable water deficit stress for 7 days. Pruning weight, root and aerial dry weight and transpiration were recorded and the experiment was repeated during two years. Transpiration efficiency (ratio between aerial biomass and transpiration) was calculated and δ13C was measured in leaves for the baseline and stable water deficit periods. A large genetic variability was observed within the panel. The rootstock had a significant impact on nocturnal transpiration which was also strongly and positively correlated with maximum daytime transpiration. The correlations with growth and water use efficiency related traits will be discussed. Transpiration data were also related with VPD and soil water content demonstrating the influence of environmental conditions on transpiration. These results highlighted the role of the rootstock in modulating water deficit responses and give insights for rootstock breeding programs aimed at identifying drought tolerant rootstocks. It was also helpful to better define the mechanisms on which the drought tolerance in grapevine rootstocks is based on.

Influence of weather and climatic conditions on the viticultural production in Croatia

The research includes an analysis of the impact of weather conditions on phenological development of the vine and grape quality, through monitoring of four experimental cultivars (Chardonnay, Graševina, Merlot and Plavac mali) over two production years. In each experimental vineyard, which were evenly distributed throughout the regions of Slavonia and The Croatian Danube, Croatian Uplands,

The concept of terroir: what place for microbiota?

Microbes play key roles on crop nutrient availability via biogeochemical cycles, rhizosphere interactions with roots as well as on plant growth and health. Recent advances in technologies, such as High Throughput Sequencing Techniques, allowed to gain deeper insight on the structure of bacterial and fungal communities associated with soil, rhizosphere and plant phyllosphere. Over the past 10 years, numerous scientific studies have been carried out on the microbial component of the vineyard. Whether the soil or grape compartments have been taken into account, many studies agree on the evidence of regional delineations of microbial communities, that may contribute to regional wine characteristics and typicity. Some authors proposed the term “microbial terroir” including “yeast terroir” for grapes to describe the connection between microbial biogeography and regional wine characteristics. Many factors are involved in terroir including climate, soil, cultivar and human practices as well as their interactions. Studies considering “microbial terroir” greatly contributed to improve our knowledge on factors that shape the vineyard microbial structure and diversity. However, the potential impact of “microbial terroir” on wine composition has yet not received strong scientific evidence and many questions remain to be addressed, related to the functional characterization of the microbial community and its impact on plant physiology and grape composition, the origins and interannual stability of vineyard microbiota, as well as their impact on wine sensorial attributes. The presentation will give an overview on the role of microbiota as a terroir component and will highlight future perspectives and challenges on this key subject for the wine industry.