Science & Wine

TANQUE is a familiar project aimed to spread with love all the best that our land gives us. We will deliver from the soil to your table, vegetables, and fruit and also some homemade products like jams and chutneys. Buy now!

Carbon footprint of table grapes imported from India – Analysis and reduction Potential

May 22, 2022May 22, 2022 Paula Silva

Consumers expect an all year round supply of fruits and vegetables, which includes table grape. In spring, at a time when domestic table grapes are not available in Europe, India is a major source of table grapes on the world market. The objective of this study was to follow the table grape from their origin in India to Bonn in Germany, where the study authors are based and purchased the grapes. After harvest, table grapes are hydro-cooled, packed in PET punnets and transported by refrigerated truck over ca. 400 km to Mumbai, where they are shipped at 0 °C in reefer containers from the Indian ocean via the Suez Canal to Antwerp. Overall, the carbon footprints of importing Indian (333 g CO₂eq) grapes resembled that of South African (309 g CO₂eq) ones due to comparable mileage between Mumbai/India and Antwerp (6317 nm) and Capetown and Antwerp (6155 nm).

Explaining the influence of the ecosystem/viticulture in the Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon quality

May 8, 2022May 8, 2022 Paula Silva

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Chile, mainly grown between the 30° S and 36° S, account for more than 30% of Chilean wine production, and yield wines with different characteristics which influence their quality. The aim of this study was to apply a liquid chromatography—mass spectrometry (LC–MS)-based metabolomic protocol to investigate the quality differentiation in a sample set of monovarietal wines from eight valleys covering 679 km of the north-south extension. The results pointed out that N-containing metabolites (mainly small peptides) are promising biomarkers for quality differentiation. Moreover, the premium wines were characterized by higher amounts of anthocyanins and other glycosylated and acetylated flavonoids, as well as phenolic acids; standard quality wines, on the other hand, presented stilbenoids and sulfonated catabolites of tryptophan and flavanols.

Characterization on the impact of different clarifiers on the white wine colloids using AF4-UV-MALS-dRI

April 24, 2022April 24, 2022 Paula Silva

Clarifiers are substances used during the winemaking process to enhance clarity and stability in the wines. The different clarifiers may alter removal capacities differently. In this study, the removal efficiency of seven common fining agents, divided into three groups (mineral clarifiers, synthetic polymeric clarifiers, and vegetable protein clarifiers), was analyzed with Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow fractionation

Cardioprotective Effects of Olive Oil

May 15, 2022May 15, 2022 Paula Silva

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and they could be prevented by a diet modification and a healthy lifestyle. Dietary modifications include a reduction in the consumption of saturated fatty acids and replacing them with mono or polyunsaturated fatty acids. Olive oil is a monounsaturated fatty acid, and its increased consumption has been associated with a significant reduction of CVDs

Development of a technical guide for a sustainable olive oil

April 30, 2022April 30, 2022 Paula Silva

Italian olive growing must aim at the transition to economically and environmentally sustainable management systems, linked to premium quality production and to a recognized and remunerated context of biodiversity conservation in compliance with the provisions of the European Union New Green Deal and United Nations Agenda 2030. To assist and facilitate companies in this step, a sustainability technical guide for the Italian olive oil supply chain has been developed, with reference to the four pillars of sustainability.