Instrumental Texture Analysis Parameters as Markers of Table-Grape and Winegrape Quality: A Review

Abstract

Texture analysis is a well-established analytical technique in the food industry for evaluating the mechanical and physical characteristics of both raw ingredients and finished products. Instrumental mechanical properties of table grapes, acquired using universal testing machines equipped with specific probes, may be of interest in the viticulture and postharvest sectors to recognize the potential of each variety and help satisfy market requirements. The measured parameters are related to some sensory properties and, therefore, indirectly to consumer acceptability of the product. As texture analysis is a rapid and low-cost analytical technique, it can also be favorably applied in enology as a routine tool for monitoring winegrape quality. Among the different mechanical parameters measurable, berry skin thickness and hardness are indices that reflect anthocyanin extractability and dehydration kinetics with adequate reliability. This review collects the most recent research results from grape texture studies, emphasizes the potentiality and limits of this analytical technique when applied to grape studies, and highlights trends that require further understanding.

Physico‐mechanical evaluation of the aptitude of berries of red wine grape varieties to resist the compression in carbonic maceration vinification

“…The berry hardness, also called firmness by some authors (Rolle et al ., ), is basically determined by the vacuole turgidity. De Belie et al .…”

Berry Heterogeneity as a Possible Factor Affecting the Potential of Seed Mechanical Properties to Classify Wine Grape Varieties and Estimate Flavanol Release in Wine-like Solution

“…Each seed was individually compressed at 1 mm/s speed under 50% deformation using a TA.XT2i Plus Texture Analyzer (Stable Micro Systems, Surrey, UK) equipped with an SMS HDP/90 platform, an SMS P/35 probe and a 50 kg load cell (Torchio et al, 2012). The following instrumental mechanical parameters were determined: the seed break force (N, as F s ), the seed break energy (mJ, as W s ), the resistance of the seed to the axial deformation (N/mm, as E s ), and the seed deformation index (%, as DI s ) (Rolle et al, 2012c). This last index was calculated as the distance of the seed break point/seed height × 100.…”

Anthocyanin yield and skin softening during maceration, as affected by vineyard row orientation and grape ripeness of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Shiraz

“…berry skin break force and thickness, were previously studied in relation to the extractability of phenolic compounds (Rolle, Siret, Río Segade, Maury, Gerbi & Jourjon, 2012b). This far, no studies have been done on the evaluation and evolution of the mechanical properties of crushed skins during maceration, and how the ripening of the grapes (and of the skins themselves) may affect this during the vinification process.…”