Post-harvest practices in wine cellars
The harvest is the climax of all winemakers’ lives. Late and some sleepless nights typify this time of the year. Grapes must be monitored, juice prepared for fermentation, yeast cultures prepared and the alcoholic fermentation must be monitored and managed. The birth...
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The positive contribution to transfer of knowledge
South African cellars are increasingly motivated and encouraged to develop the skills and knowledge of cellar assistants. Although this might appear not to be problematic, transfer of knowledge and the development of skills are far more challenging than many in the...
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Amino acids in South African grape musts (Part 2): Cultivar classification
This study aimed to investigate how well cultivars could be predicted based on their amino acid profile, regardless of origin or vintage. The amino acid results obtained from the survey of 738 grape must samples (2016 and 2017 harvests) were presented in Part 1, while...
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A new era for wine grape yield estimation
With technology at the fingertips of researchers and producers alike, the possibility exists to not only generate and study vast data sets, but also to find relationships between them through machine learning and statistical analysis. Such relationships could...
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Winemaking with stems
Alcoholic fermentation is the backbone of winemaking. It therefore follows that all processes, physical factors and components of the process will have an influence on the result of the fermentation. Whether stems are absent or not during fermentation is one of these...
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Accumulation of volatile phenol glycoconjugates in grapes after bushfires
This study demonstrated the different effects of the same amount of smoke on different grape varieties. Introduction It is well-documented that wines made from grapes that were exposed to smoke from bushfires can contain smoky and ashy characteristics.1 These...
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Resolutions adopted by OIV
The 16th General Assembly of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), which met on 23 November 2018 in Punta del Este (Uruguay), adopted a total of 20 resolutions. Decisions on viticulture and the environment • In the field of viticulture, the OIV...
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Amino acids in South African grape musts (Part 1): Composition and profiles
The work presented aimed to elucidate the amino acid profile of a number of grapevine cultivars relevant to the South African wine industry using 738 grape must samples obtained during the 2016 and 2017 harvests. Part 1 presents the findings of the survey, while Part...
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New wine packaging for a changing consumer profile
The demographic age profile of consumers of different generations is divided according to their birth dates. Consumers born since World War Two are classified as “Baby Boomers” (middle 1940s to middle 1960s), “Generation X” (middle 1960s to early 1980s), “Generation...
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Detection and classification of grapevine stem pitting-associated virus
The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of GRSPaV in South Africa and to evaluate the success of biological indexing as a detection tool for this virus. Grapevine rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (GRSPaV) is a ubiquitous grapevine virus...
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Chitin, chitinase, chitosan …
In the past 10 years various studies were published that highlighted these three entities and their roles in winemaking. It is therefore worthwhile to take a closer look at what they are, what they do and why winemakers should be excited. What they are Chitin is the...
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Red Dawn: extracting nature’s power
This local breakthrough tannin innovation is a huge potential game changer in the wine industry, given that the locally produced tannins contains unique antioxidants and polyphenols. It not only preserves, protects and enhances all wine, it also has the...
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Gen-Z cover crop demo plots – results and findings from the 2018 season
In 2017 Vinpro launched a new technology transfer project, namely the Gen-Z Vineyard Project. The objective of this project is to establish various types of demo plots, for example new cultivars and clones, rootstocks, trellis systems, pruning systems and viticultural...
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Strategy for the control of mealybug in South African vineyards
Mealybug and scale insects are currently the only proven vectors of leafroll virus. All producers do not have the financial means to remove and replace leafroll infected grapevines. New grapevines from certified virus-free plant material are consequently being...
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Mapping the 2017 Absa Top 10 Pinotage wines – chemistry and sensory perspectives
When evaluating wines, we have two main tools at our disposal: sensory and chemistry. The chemical profile of a wine is made up of a multitude of compounds, but we cannot reduce a wine to a list of substances, no matter how comprehensive. In contrast, sensory...
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Big data and YAN analysis – new developments in South African context
A Big Data approach can be used in winemaking, using our YAN work as illustration. Unlike other fermented beverages, wine’s appeal does not stem from its consistent flavour and aroma, but instead from the unique sensory experience that it can offer, from one vintage...
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Benchmarking of commercial tannins and mannoproteins
Australian researchers did an in depth study of the compositions of 14 commercial grape-derived tannins and eight mannoproteins obtained from five different suppliers in the Australian market.1 They found significant differences in the compositions of these commercial...
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The importance of oxygen control during bottling and the measurement of dissolved oxygen in wine
Bottling is the last stage where oxygen can be dissolved in wine, causing negative quality characteristics, before the wine reaches the consumer. The possibility of oxygen absorption in wine exists during each process of bottling. Seeing that bottling usually takes...
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