 IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Are my bubbles shrinking? A deeper look at oxygen desorption in wine

Are my bubbles shrinking? A deeper look at oxygen desorption in wine

Abstract

In the past decade, there has been an increasing amount of work dedicated to understanding micro-oxygenation in wine. Oxygen desorption into nitrogen gas is a similar process, but there has been little work focusing on this process and no work explicitly examining the effect that changes in wine components have on the process. The removal of excess dissolved oxygen from wine prior to bottling is commonly done in winemaking. A widely used method involves sparging nitrogen through the wine, in a process known as desorption. An indicator of the rate of oxygen desorption is the oxygen volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kla), which can be determined experimentally. The aim of the study was to examine how temperature, superficial gas velocity, and ethanol and glycerol levels affected the kla of dissolved oxygen into nitrogen gas in an aqueous solution of ethanol and glycerol. For the experiment, ethanol and glycerol concentrations were varied between 9 and 15% v/v, and 5 and 25 g/L respectively. The temperature was varied between 10 and 20C. The superficial gas velocity was varied between 0.15 and 0.32 cm/s. The experiments were performed in a 15L bubble column with a stone sparger. Before each run, the column was sparged with air in order to saturate the solution. Nitrogen was sparged until the concentration of oxygen was below 0.1 mg/L. DO levels were measured with an oxygen probe. The mean bubble size was determined using a high speed camera. The results showed that in the ranges tested, ethanol and glycerol concentration had no effect on the kla. A strong correlation was shown between superficial gas velocity, temperature and the kla The kla varied between 0.0139 and 0.0236s^-1. It was expected that the varying ethanol and glycerol concentrations would have an effect as the physico-chemical properties changed. Consequently an experiment was done in which ethanol concentration was incrementally increased from 0 to 10% v/v. It was found that raising the ethanol concentration to 0.1% increased the kla significantly relative to water. Beyond this the kla did not increase significantly. It was found that at ethanol concentrations of 0 to 0.02% the mean bubble size was nearly 2 times greater than at 0.05%. This suggests that the rise in kla is as a result of smaller bubbles. Preliminary tests performed on white wine showed that the kla was lower than in the ethanol/glycerol solutions under the same conditions. The kla range was 0.0094 and 0.012 s^-1 at 10 and 20 C respectively. The use of an aqueous solution of ethanol and glycerol overestimates the oxygen desorption rate in wine. This indicates that other unexamined properties within wine have a significant effect on kla. Oxygen desorption is significantly improved with the introduction of 0.05 % ethanol. Examining how wine proteins, acids and phenols affect the oxygen kla may give a better estimate of the desorption process in wine.

DOI:

Publication date: September 7, 2021

Issue: Macrowine 2021

Type: Article

Authors

Steven Sutton

Stellenbosch University,Prof. Wessel Du Toit, Stellenbosch University Prof. Robbie Pott, Stellenbosch University

Contact the author

Keywords

oxygen desorption, wine processing, volumetric mass transfer coefficient, nitrogen sparging, wine sparging, micro-oxygenation keyword3)

Citation

Low-cost sensors as a support tool to monitor soil-plant heat exchanges in a Mediterranean vineyard

Mediterranean viticulture is increasingly exposed to more frequent extreme conditions such as heat waves. These extreme events co-occur with low soil water content, high air vapor pressure deficit and high solar radiant energy fluxes and result in leaf and berry sunburn, lower yield, and berry quality, which is a major constraint for the sustainability of the sector. Grape growers must find ways to proper and effectively manage heat waves and extreme canopy and berry temperatures. Irrigation to keep soil moisture levels and enable adequate plant turgor, and convective and evaporative cooling emerged as a key tool to overcome this major challenge. The effects of irrigation on soil and plant water status are easily quantifiable but the impact of irrigation on soil and canopy temperature and on heat convection from soil to cluster zone remain less characterized. Therefore, a more detailed quantification of vineyard heat fluxes is highly relevant to better understand and implement strategies to limit the effects of extreme weather events on grapevine leaf and berry physiology and vineyards performance. Low-cost sensor technologies emerge as an opportunity to improve monitoring and support decision making in viticulture. However, validation of low-cost sensors is mandatory for practical applicability. A two-year study was carried in a vineyard in Alentejo, south of Portugal, using low-cost thermal cameras (FLIR One, 80×60 pixels and FLIR C5, 160×120 pixels, 8-14 µm, FLIR systems, USA) and pocket thermohygrometers (Extech RHT30, EXTECH instruments, USA) to monitor grapevine and soil temperatures. Preliminary results show that low-cost cameras can detect severe water stress and support the evaluation of vertical canopy temperature variability, providing information on soil surface temperature. All these thermal parameters can be relevant for soil and crop management and be used in decision support systems.

Impact of geographical location on the phenolic profile of minority varieties grown in Spain. II: red grapevines

Because terroir and cultivar are drivers of wine quality, is essential to investigate theirs effects on polyphenolic profile before promoting the implantation of a red minority variety in a specific area. This work, included in MINORVIN project, focuses in the polyphenolic profile of 7 red grapevines minority varieties of Vitis vinifera L. (Morate, Sanguina, Santafe, Terriza Tinta Jeromo Tortozona Tinta) and Tempranillo) from six typical viticulture Spanish areas: Aragón (A1), Cataluña (A2), Castilla la Mancha (A3), Castilla –León (A4), Madrid (A5) and Navarra (A6) of 2020 season. Polyphenolic substances were extracted from grapes. 35 compounds were identified and quantified (mg subtance/kg fresh berry) by HPLC and grouped in anthocyanins (ANT) flavanols (FLAVA), flavonols (FLAVO), hydroxycinnamic (AH), benzoic (BA) acids and stilbenes (ST). Antioxidant activity (AA, mmol TE /g fresh berry) was determined by DPPH method. The results were submitted to a two-way ANOVA to investigate the influence of variety, area and their interaction for each polyphenolic family and cluster analysis was used to construct hierarchical dendrograms, searching the natural groupings among the samples. Sanguina (A3) had the most of total polyphenols while Tempranillo (A5) those of ANT. Sanguina (A2) and (A3) reached the highest values of FLAVO, FLAVA and AA. These two last samples had also the maximum of AA. The effect cultivar and area were significant for all polyphenolic families analyzed. A high variability due to variety (>50%) was observed in FLAVA and the maximum value of variability due to growing area was detected in AA (86.41%), ANT and FLAVO (51%); the interaction variety*zone was significant only for ANT, FLAVO, EST and AA. Finally, dendrograms presented five cluster: i) Sanguina (A2); ii) Sanguina (A3); iii) Tempranillo (A5); iv) Tempranillo (A3); Terriza (A3,A5), Morate (A5,A6); v) Santafé (A1,A6); Tortozona tinta (A1,A3,A6); Tinta Jeromo (A3,A4).

Local adaptation tools to ensure the viticultural sustainability in a changing climate

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Delaying irrigation initiation linearly reduces yield with little impact on maturity in Pinot noir

When to initiate irrigation is a critical annual management decision that has cascading effects on grapevine productivity and wine quality in the context of climate change. A multi-site trial was begun in 2021 to optimize irrigation initiation timing using midday stem water potential (ψstem) thresholds characterized as departures from non-stressed baseline ψstemvalues (Δψstem). Plant material, vine and row spacing, and trellising systems were concomitant among sites, while vine age, soil type, and pruning systems varied. Five target Δψstem thresholds were arranged in an RCBD and replicated eight times at each site: 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 MPa (T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively). When thresholds were reached, plots were irrigated weekly at 70% ETc. Yield components and berry composition were quantified at harvest. To better generalize inferences across sites, data were analyzed by ANOVA using a mixed model including site as a random factor. Across sites, irrigation was initiated at Δψstem = 0.24, 0.50, 0.65, 0.93, and 0.98 MPa for T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively. Consistent significant negative linear trends were found for several key yield and berry composition variables. Yield decreased by 12.9, 15.9, 19.5, and 27.4% for T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively, compared to T1 (p < 0.0001) across sites that were driven by similarly linear reductions in berry weight (p < 0.0001). Comparatively, berry composition varied little among treatments. Juice total soluble solids decreased linearly from T1 to T5 – though only ranged 0.9 Brix (p = 0.012). Because producers are paid by the ton, and contracts simply stipulate a target maturity level, first-year results suggest that there is no economic incentive to induce moderate water deficits before irrigation initiation, regardless of vineyard site. Subsequent years will further elucidate the carryover effects of delaying irrigation initiation on productivity over the long term.