The effect of cation exchange resin treatment of grape must on the chemical and sensory characteristics of base wines for sparkling wine

Abstract

Ion exchange resins are polymers with high physical and chemical stability, which, upon activation, acquire positive charge (H+) ions which interchange with existing cations during musts or wines treatment. The chemical composition of the grape must, and wines are highly affected by said modifications. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the cationic resin treatments on the physicochemical and organoleptic characteristics of base white wines for sparkling wine production. Thus for, Chardonnay must was exposed to a cation exchange resin specific for oenological usage, and fermented to obtain wines. Resulting wines included an untreated control sample with pH 3.15 and treated samples with pH 3.08, 3.02 and 2.97. Physicochemical and volatile compounds analyses as well as quantitative sensory evaluations were conducted. The results showed that, on the scenarios tested, treatments with cationic resins before fermentation resulted in wine with higher oxidative stability, with significative variation on the concentration of several volatile compounds that influenced organoleptic perceptions.

The effect of ion-exchange resin treatment on grape must composition and fermentation kinetics

“…Although examples of must treatments with cationic resins are scarce, similar results were obtained in previous works using cationic resins on wines (Mourgues, 1993;Walker et al, 2003;Ponce et al, 2018). Moreover, wines obtained from resin-treated musts (Cisilotto et al, 2019) showed an increase in total acidity and tartaric acid concentration proportional to resin-treatments.…”

“…In the study by Tamasi et al (2018) the authors obtained similar results with the use of cation exchange resin in samples of dessert wines. In the study by Cisilotto et al (2019), lower susceptibility to browning overtime was reported in wines that had their must treated with ion exchange resins. In previous studies (Benıtez et al, 2002) showed reduced susceptibility to browning in white wines submitted to resin treatments.…”

“…For the total CO 2 released (Ymax), there is a tendency that the higher the pH reduction by resin treatment, the lower the CO 2 released during the whole fermentation (Table 1). In a previous study, Cisilotto et al (2019) showed that wines obtained from cationic resin-treated must exhibit a lower concentration of acetates, who were perceived in the sensory analysis as lower fruity aromas. The relation between pH reduction, slow fermentation, and wine composition may be studied further.…”