Novel tools and strategies for precision and sustainable varietal and regional enology

AIM: Pre-fermentative fining is one of the central steps of white wine production. Mainly aiming at reducing the levels of suspended solids, juice fining can also assist in reducing the content of oxidizable phenolics and therefore the susceptibility of juice to oxidation.

“Pinking” is a term used to define an abnormal pink coloration assumed by white wines in certain cases. Despite the are many hypotheses about the causes of this phenomenon, pinking still represents an issue for the wine industry. In the absence of reliable preventive strategies, wineries often rely on treatments such as charcoal fining, which is also negatively impacting wine aroma. This study aims at evaluating the potential of different fining agents based on animal or vegetal proteins to prevent wine pinking when applied at the level of must clarification. The work was carried out on Lugana wines, which is well-recognised as sensible to pinking problems. METHODS: Two experimental Lugana musts were obtained by applying a standard winemaking protocol and were then clarified with different commercial preparations based on vegetal proteins or casein, alone or in combination with PVPP. A control only using pectolytic enzyme was also prepared. Finings were carried out at 4°C for 16h, and the clear must (200 NTU) was then fermented in controlled conditions.

AIM: The increasing market competitiveness is promoting the production of special dry wines with distinctive characteristics, obtained either from minor winegrape varieties and/or the inclusion of partially dehydrated grapes.

AIM: The aim of this work was to study the inhibitory effect of the three most frequently used wine antioxidants – sulfur dioxide, ascorbic acid and glutathione – on the kinetics of browning caused by Botrytis cinerea laccase using a grape juice synthetic model in which (-)-epicatechin was the substrate.

Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is an innovative analytical method based on soft chemical ionization to analyze thecomposition in volatile compounds of a gas phase

Sulfonated monomeric and dimeric flavan-3-ols are recently discovered in wine and proved to have great importance in understanding wine chemistry and quality [1, 2].

To our knowledge all the studies about laccase kinetics and its inhibition have been performed with substrates and conditions very different from those of real grape juice. Moreover, none of these researches really measure enzymatic browning, since they have not taken into account what happens after the oxidation of o-diphenols in o-diquinones and their subsequent polymerization to form melanins1. For that reason, the aim of this research was to develop a new model to measure the kinetics of browning caused by Botrytis cinerea laccase under conditions much closer to those of grape juice and using the substrates naturally present in it.

The present study evaluates the effect of prefermentative maceration enzymes and yeast autolysate on the concentration of conjugated precursors and volatile thiols, respectively.Sauvignon blanc and Merlot grapes underwent skin-contact maceration with or without pectolytic enzymes, for the production of white and rosé wines

Aim: Sauvignon blanc displays a range of styles that can include prominent tropical and passionfruit aromas. Both sensory evaluation and chemical analysis have confirmed the above-average presence of ‘varietal thiols’ in the Sauvignon blanc wines from Marlborough, New Zealand.

AIM: The application of microwaves (MW) to the grape is a technique to reduce the contact time with pomace because it allows to break the cell walls of the berry.

AIM: Bonarda, the second red grape variety in Argentina, produces high yields per hectare generating, in several cases, wines with low levels of quality compounds.

AIM Current winery efforts in Spanish warm climate regions, as Andalusia, are aimed at red wine production in spite of sub-optimal climatological conditions

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.

Blending wines from different grape varieties is often used in order to increase wine complexity and balance. Due to their popularity, several types of blends such as the Bordeaux blend, are protected by PDO legislation.

AIM: Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is a non-allergenic pseudocereal with a high protein content