In its latest regular column for the Wine & Viticulture Journal, the Australian Wine Research Institute summarises its recent investigations into the sensory and chemical properties of a range of existing no and low (NOLO) alcohol wines in the Australian marketplace as well as the effectiveness of a variety of flavour and textural additives in recreating the sensory effects of ethanol in NOLO wines.
Complementing this article in the Autumn issue is our tasting of reduced and no and low alcohol still white wines from Australia and New Zealand. Our tasting attracted 21 reduced and NOLO still white wines, specifically Rieslings, Sauvignon Blancs, Chardonnays and Pinot Grigio/Gris, which had alcohol levels from 0-9%.
Kym Anderson and Germán Puga from the University of Adelaide report on their efforts to discover the extent of the emergence of alternative varieties in Australia this century by drawing on a new data set covering the past two decades.
Over in Winemaking, German researchers share their findings on a study into whether airborne TCA can migrate through bottle closures and contaminate bottled wine, while a multi-national team of researchers from Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia reveal what they learned from their exploration into the ability of chitosan derived from button mushrooms to reduce caffeic and caftaric acid concentrations in Pinot Noir grape juice and the formation furan-derived aroma compounds during storage if added to sparkling base wine.
In the vineyard, our regular scribe Tony Hoare presents the first part of a two-part article into managing vineyards in heatwaves, while New Zealand researchers explore whether temperature increases influence anthocyanin, phenolic compounds and amino acids in Pinot Noir.