Technical Conference "Quality Control in Harvest Reception"
More than fifty oenology professionals gathered at the facilities of the IRIAF (before IVICAM) in Tomelloso (Ciudad Real), giving the propitious framework for the successful realization of a Technical Conference organized by the Colegio Oficial de Enología de Castilla-La Mancha and with the collaboration of Instituto Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Forestal (IRIAF) and tehe company Tecnología Difusión Ibérica (TDI).
The conference began with the intervention of the dean of the College, Miguel Ruescas Lozano, taking stock of the current situation in the region and marking the challenges and opportunities that arise and the importance of being prepared for them. He also placed special emphasis on the trajectory and experience of TDI and, in particular, his manager Jorge Subirana, who has been dedicated to the world of analytics applied to oenology for more than 30 years.
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Then, Dr. Mario Weibel, Responsible of I+D+i at TDI, referred to the different analysis techniques that can be applied to control reception during harvests. In controlling technological maturity, the existing instrumental possibilities with their respective ranges and details were detailed. Thus, refractometers (to measure sugars and probable degree), potentiometric titrators (for pH and total acidity), automatic reception stations (for sugars, pH and total acidity), automatic chemical analysers (for enzymatic determination) were reviewed. of malic and acetic acid, colorimetric of tartaric acid, pH and total acidity and turbidimetric of potassium) and the FTIR type analysers (for the simultaneous determination of all the necessary parameters in reception). Regarding the health status of the grape, the need to use reliable, precise and verifiable parameters was emphasized. The advance in the determination of botrytis was introduced from the first Lacasa analyzers to the current methods of gluconic acid determination by means of automatic enzymatic chemical analyzers, FTIRs and biosensors, comparing the speed and precision of each method. Finally, the existing methods to determine phenolic maturity were discussed and the limitations in the analysis of musts that have not macerated long enough were analyzed.
On the second shift, Eng. Blas Martínez, Technical Director of TDI, spoke about the criteria that must be taken into account when choosing the solution that best suits the needs of each winery. Taking into account all the variety of equipment available on the market and the lack of clarity in its real application, relationships were established between the real needs of any reception with the best applicable solution according to the resources, requirements and way of working of each winery or cooperative. Also, it was specified what can be expected from each of the equipment, in what ranges it can be measured and its real limitations, also differentiating between costs and analysis times. Finally, the real capabilities of the techniques when using high-quality products were clarified, giving as an example the record times that can be reached using a good reagent and the accuracy with which gluconic acid can be measured in the must with equipment of type FTIR.
Finally, a live demonstration of the solutions that TDI offers for control at reception, from its exclusive filtration system Mostonet®, through the most complete range of automatic chemical analyzers (enzymatic, colorimetric and turbidimetric) Miura and the FTIR line of analyzers Bacchus. The occasion was also used to present in society the Smart, the fastest chemical analyser on the market for reception analysis.
