Macrowine 2021
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 White wine light-strike fault: a comparison between flint and green bottles under the typical supermarket conditions

White wine light-strike fault: a comparison between flint and green bottles under the typical supermarket conditions

Abstract

AIM: Consumer preference favors flint-glass wine bottles over the traditional dark-colored, but it is documented that light exposure can cause white wines to produce off-aromas and change in color, and consequently da[1]mage their quality. Aim of the study was to study the white wine shelf life under the typical supermarket conditions, by recording the light and temperature exposure, the colorimetric changes, and the light-strike fault.

METHODS: One pilot experiment based on two white wines and eight-time points and one kinetic experiment based on four white wines and seven-time points were designed and realized using a typical supermarket shelf for 32 and 50 days, correspondently. By installing prototype sensors at 32 points of the shelf, the temperature, UV, IR, and Visible light exposure were registered every 10 min. Approximately 600 commercial wines, bottled in flint and colored glass, were used. The colorimetric changes of the wines were registered and the light-strike fault was evaluated.

RESULTS: Generally, green glass bottles secured wine quality for the tested period. Only a few flint glass bottled wines developed the fault after 1-2 days of supermarket shelf life, but all developed the fault after 3-4 weeks. Storing the wines in dark and cold after a period of exposure to light did not eliminate the fault. A limit of up to 20-30 UVI of UV light passing through the glass could be set, considering the relative UV light in respect to the sensor measurements and the glass type. Moreover, wines bottled in flint glass after two days of shelf life had already lost more chromatic intensity and yellow hue than the same wines bottled in the green glass after 50 days.

CONCLUSIONS:

Light-strike wine fault is irreversible, occurs in all white wines, even if some are more resistant than others are, and the dark colored glass bottle is the best solution to avoid the problem.

DOI:

Publication date: September 17, 2021

Issue: Macrowine 2021

Type: Article

Authors

Panagiotis Arapitsas, Silvia, CARLIN, Stefano, DALLEDONNE, Matthias, SCHOLZ,  Antonio, CATAPANO, Wenda srl, Bologna,  Fulvio, MATTIVI, 

Department of Food Quality and Nutrition, Research and Innovation Centre Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all’Adige, Italy, Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

Contact the author

Keywords

shelf-life; wine fault; taste of light; storage; light-strike; cielab; sensors; pinot gris; chardonnay

Citation

Related articles…

Typologie des paysages de vigne: un outil de planification

La culture de la vigne dessine un paysage rural original. En effet, de par ses qualités physiologiques, ses exigences agronomiques et les techniques qu’elle requiert, elle est à l’origine d’un portrait de nature sculpté, architecturé, parfois même comparé à l’art des jardins. A ce que l’on pourrait le cas échéant qualifier d’« art involontaire »

Drought lessons: long-term effects of climate, soil characteristics, and deficit irrigation on yield and quality under high atmospheric demand in the Douro Region

Global warming is one of the biggest environmental, social and economic threats in several viticultural regions. In the Douro Valley, changes are expected in the coming years, namely an increase in temperature and a decrease in precipitation. These changes are likely to have consequences for the production and quality of wine.

Enhancement of the terroir

The terroir is today the most important factor of production and development in the wine sector. In a context where the commercial challenge is taking place all over the place, the distinction between traditional and “new” producing countries is not only a geographical, cultural and technical counter position but also, and above all, a legal one. Indeed, the system of standards present in the “old world” (plantation rights, production decrees, yields per hectare, etc.) which may represent, in the short term on the global market, constraints to development and product innovation must become an opportunity. But threats become opportunities, if we work, from the vine to the market, via communication, more on the elements of difference than on those of affinity.

Mixed starters Schizosaccharomyces japonicus/Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a novel tool to improve the aging stability of Sangiovese wines

In the present work Schizosaccharomyces japonicus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were inoculated simultaneously or in sequence in mixed fermentation trials with the aim of testing their ability to improve the overall quality of red wine

Microbial ecosystems in wineries – molecular interactions between species and modelling of population dynamics

Microbial ecosystems are primary drivers of viticultural, oenological and other cellar-related processes
such as wastewater treatment. Metagenomic datasets have broadly mapped the vast microbial species
diversity of many of the relevant ecological niches within the broader wine environment, from vineyard
soils to plants and grapes to fermentation. The data highlight that species identities and diversity
significantly impact agronomic performance of vineyards as well as wine quality, but the complexity
of these systems and of microbial growth dynamics has defeated attempts to offer actionable
tools to guide or predict specific outcomes of ecosystem-based interventions.