 IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Monitoring the tawny port wine aging process using precision enology

Monitoring the tawny port wine aging process using precision enology

Abstract

AIM: Tawny Port wine is produced in the Douro Demarcated Region by blending several fortified wines in different aging stages. During the aging process in small wood barrels, the red wine color progressively develops into tawny, medium tawny, or light tawny. In this Port wine style, there are some special categories like Tawny Reserve, Tawny with Indication of Age (10, 20, 30, and 40 years), and “Colheita” that are commercialized worldwide. This last category is an exception, as these wines are from a single vintage [1]. In Tawny Port wine the oxidative aging process is multifactorial and critical for reaching the required quality. So, real-time monitoring of important intrinsic and extrinsic factors known to impact both wine quality and aging time are important to optimize and to manage the natural inconsistency among wines aged in diverse long-used wood barrels. This work shows the design, development, and implementation of a remote distributed system to monitor factors that are identified to be critical for the Tawny Port wine aging process.

METHODS: The Tawny Port wine aging process was monitored in two equal wineries – one of them with controlled temperature– in Vallegre, Porto S.A.. Barrels were instrumented with sensors to measure parameters during the aging process, specifically: pH, redox potential, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. The monitoring process was done using an RS-485 industrial network, which interconnects the mentioned sensors [2].

RESULTS: The distributed monitoring system was capable to detect differences among barrels and among the different storage conditions (controlled and room temperature). Redox potential and dissolved oxygen were the wine’s parameters where the differences among the different barrels were higher under the same storage conditions. Since the Tawny Port wine aging process is oxidative, a variation in the wine’s aging process among barrels is to be expected. Significant differences were detected in the oxygen consumption rate among the different barrels. Differences in the phenolic composition were also observed in the aged wine, both at controlled and room temperature

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicated that the distributed monitoring system was capable to detect variations among barrels and among both storage conditions: controlled and room temperature. Actually, redox potential and dissolved oxygen were the wine’s factors where the variances found were higher among wood barrels, while under the same storage conditions. This methodology is based on easy-to-use implanted systems, with the intention of giving an important contribution to other projects in the area of precision enology

Acknowledgment

The authors want to acknowledge FCT Portugal for funding the CQ – VR through the grant (UIDB/00616/2020 and UIDP/00616/2020), to project INNPORT “Otimização do processo de envelhecimento do vinho do Porto Tawny” and Vallegre Company.

DOI:

Publication date: September 10, 2021

Issue: Macrowine 2021

Type: Article

Contact the author

Keywords

precision enology, wine aging, instrumentation

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.

Untangling belowground response of grapevines to cover crop competition

Cover crops are planted in vineyards for multiple benefits including soil conservation, weed management, regulation of grapevine vegetative growth

Towards a European data basis based of advanced multi-isotopic signatures and artificial intelligence: the wine in blue project

Major and trace elements are essential for the development of grapes used for the wine. They are primarily originating from the soil. Some elements are also seldomly added during the wine making process. Therefore, the largest spectrum of major, trace and ultra-trace elements in the final wine product is a good signature of its geographical origin. In the frame of the European tracewindu, we have developed a very original multi-isotopic dilution method using triple quadrupole icp/ms.

Microclimate manipulation: leveraging the microclimatic differences created by diverse trellis systems to investigate the metabolic plasticity of Vitis vinifera cv. Chenin blanc in a model vineyard

Field-grown crops such as grapevines, rely on ambient environmental conditions for growth and development.

Effect of ozone treatments in wine production on colour traits, volatile composition, and sensory characteristics of young and short-term aged white wines

The main aim of WiSSaTech project (PRIN P2022LXY3A),supported by the Italian Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca and European Union-NextGenerationEU, is to investigate eco-friendly and safe alternatives to sulphur dioxide (SO2) in wine production.