Escape ClassRoom “CSI 1.0” is an educational escape room proposed as an interactive analytical chemistry exercise for the evaluation of undergraduate students at the end of the subject. This approach is a new form of live action learning activity in which the students have to solve an analytical problem, namely, “an alleged crime”. From this initial hypothesis, they have to investigate the crime by playing the role of trainee forensic chemists. As in any escape room, Escape ClassRoom “CSI 1.0” is a logical game in which the main objective is to discover several clues, to find hidden objects, and to solve a mystery in order to escape a “locked” room in an established time. The students play the role of forensic scientists and solve the alleged crime by following the scientific method in order to escape. To do so, they have to apply the whole analytical process from beginning to end, i.e., from a correct sampling at the crime scene, through the analysis of sample and data treatment until the interpretation of the results to validate the initial hypothesis: a murder has been committed. If it has, then who did it? The students’ knowledge in analytical chemistry and the teamwork are the only tools that they have to solve all of the riddles and uncover hidden messages to “win” while time is running out. This first experience showed the potential of an escape room to be used as an innovative educational tool easily applicable to other subjects.

The production of white wines with the presence of grape skins is a historical technique used in different regions with winemaking tradition. However, the current trend is to maintain the presence of grape skins during white wine making only during the pre-fermentation phase in order to enrich and give greater complexity to the sensory profile of the wines. Given these precedents, this study is the first to consider the effect of the presence of different grape skins doses throughout the alcoholic fermentation process. To this end, the effect of 5 different doses of grape skins (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%) has been studied with respect to a control (0%) during alcoholic fermentation, the physicochemical composition of the final wines and a preliminary sensory analysis. The presence of grape skins has led to an increase in viable biomass and speed of fermentation with respect to the control. However, no differences have been observed in terms of the consumption of nitrogenous sources by yeasts. The wines produced have not shown great differences in their physicochemical composition, except for the volatile acidity. In addition, the preliminary sensory analysis showed differences between the different grape skins doses studied, where the wine produced with 20% grape skins has been the best evaluated by the tasting panel. In this sense, the production of wines with a 20% grape skins presence during the entire alcoholic fermentation is presented as a viable technique that would allow the diversification of the production of white wines and meet the trends and expectations of current wine consumers.

Flor velum yeast growth activators during biological aging are currently unknown. In this sense, this research focuses on the use of bee pollen as a flor velum activator. Bee pollen influence on viable yeast development, surface hydrophobicity, and yeast assimilable nitrogen has already been studied. Additionally, bee pollen effects on the main compounds related to flor yeast metabolism and wine sensory characteristics have been evaluated. “Fino” (Sherry) wine was supplemented with bee pollen using six different doses ranging from 0.1 to 20 g/L. Its addition in a dose equal or greater than 0.25 g/L can be an effective flor velum activator, increasing yeast populations and its buoyancy due to its content of yeast assimilable nitrogen and fatty acids. Except for the 20 g/L dose, pollen did not induce any significant effect on flor velum metabolism, physicochemical parameters, organic acids, major volatile compounds, or glycerol. Sensory analysis showed that low bee pollen doses increase wine’s biological aging attributes, obtaining the highest score from the tasting panel. Multiflora bee pollen could be a natural oenological tool to enhance flor velum development and wine sensory qualities. This study confirms association between the bee pollen dose applied and the flor velum growth rate. The addition of bee pollen could help winemakers to accelerate or reimplant flor velum in biologically aged wines.

The current trend of rising temperatures and sun irradiation associated to climate change is pushing traditional grape-producing areas with a warm climate towards a very accelerated ripening, leading to earlier harvesting dates and grape must with an unbalanced composition. However, this climatic trend could be exploited to produce other types of wine. In this sense, the increase in temperature could be used to produce wines with overripe grapes. In this regard, the aim of this research work is to evaluate the influence of different degrees and techniques of grape over-ripening to produce wines with the presence or absence of its skins during alcoholic fermentation. To this end, a physicochemical characterization of grape musts and wines obtained from overripe grapes and the monitoring of their fermentation has been performed. Over-ripening grapes by sun-drying has been established as a viable technique viability, producing musts and wines with unique physicochemical and sensory characteristics. In view of the above, it is considered that the production of wines from overripe grapes and in the presence or absence of grape skins is a viable approach to make new white wines taking advantage of the conditions imposed by climate change in a warm climate zone and meet the trends and expectations of current wine consumers.

The high sensitivity of one of the most important crops in the world, such as vine (Vitis vinifera L.), to particular changes caused by the phenomena associated with global warming, is encouraging the wine industry to place value on grape varieties that are autochthonous to each production area. These are generally conserved in germplasm banks and may pose a useful tool to counteract the effects of climate change. In order to determine the actual resource that such varieties constitute, this research has carried out a genetic identification, a morphological characterization, and an analysis of the grape musts obtained from four autochthonous varieties (Cañocazo, Castellano, Mantúo de Pilas, and Palomino Fino). This genetic analysis has allowed the identification of autochthonous varieties with different genotypes. However, all of them had similar phenotypic characteristics in terms of high hair density in adult leaves. With respect to the physicochemical composition of the musts, significant differences have been observed between the autochthonous varieties, with respect to the control variety of Palomino Fino. Nevertheless, all of them have exhibited an adequate physicochemical composition to produce quality white wines. For all of the above reasons, these local varieties should be considered suitable for cultivation in areas with warmer and drier climates, such as Andalusia (Spain).