Lowering wine alcohol content by reverse osmosis and spinning cone columns: effects on sensory characteristics of the beverages Original language of the article: English.

Reverse osmosis and spinning cone columns are promising techniques for reducing alcohol content in wines. Most wineries are only interested in reducing ethanol content by one or two alcoholic degrees in order to obtain more balanced wines. However, new consumption habits and alcohol safety laws have induced the wine industry to produce new beverages from non-alcoholic or low alcohol wines. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the impacts of the dealcoholisation of wines by reverse osmosis and spinning cone columns on the sensory characteristics of the final product.
Brief introduction
Currently, warm climate viticultural regions provide grapes with a high potential alcohol value
Beverages obtained from the partial dealcoholisation of wines have an alcoholic strength per volume equal to or above 0.5 % (v/v) and less than the applicable minimum alcoholic strength of wine or special wine
Materials and methods
Our research was carried out in the “Cooperativa Agrícola Vitivinícola Loncomilla” winery located in San Javier, Chile on Cabernet Sauvignon and Listán Prieto (cv. País) wines produced from the 2013 vintage. The wines were dealcoholised by reverse osmosis (RO) to an ethanol content of 0.5 and 6.0 % (v/v) using an Oliversep 4 RO kit with 8 double membranes. Spinning cone columns (SCC) were used to dealcoholise only the Listán Prieto wines to 0.5 and 6.0 % (v/v) of ethanol content. Ethanol removal was performed when the malolactic fermentation of the wines had finished. After this, 2 g/L of oenological tannin and concentrated grape must with 25 g/L of residual sugar were added to the beverages to correct their composition. Before bottling, to avoid microbiological deterioration of the beverages, 180 mg/hL and 200 mg/L of sorbate and dimethyl dicarbonate was added respectively. The obtained beverages were subjected to a sensory analysis in a triangle test based on the methodology published by Roessler et al.
Results
The judges were able to significantly discriminate the Cabernet Sauvignon and Listán Prieto dealcoholised wines by reverse osmosis (RO) and spinning cone columns (SCC) in the triangular tests (Table 1).
Table 1. Sensorial analysis results for dealcoholised wines. RO: reverse osmosis; SCC: spinning cone columns.
Wine |
Triangular test |
T (ºC) |
Positive identifications |
p-value |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Discrimination by alcohol content |
|||||
Listán Prieto |
0 % by RO vs 6 % by RO |
20 ºC |
30/36 (83 %) |
< 0.001 |
|
Cabernet Sauvignon |
0 by RO % vs 6 % by RO |
20 ºC |
20/36 (56 %) |
< 0.01 |
|
Listán Prieto |
0 % by SCC vs 6 % by SCC |
20 ºC |
29/36 (81%) |
< 0.001 |
|
Discrimination by dealcoholisation method |
|||||
Listán Prieto |
0 % by RO vs 0 % by SCC |
20 ºC |
26/36 (72 %) |
< 0.001 |
|
Listán Prieto |
6 % by RO vs 6 % by SCC |
20 ºC |
32/36 (89 %) |
< 0.001 |
The preference test results indicated the following: the judges significantly preferred the Cabernet Sauvignon wines which had been dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 6.0 % (v/v) by RO, while the least preferred was the Listán Prieto wine, which had been dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 6.0 % (v/v) by SCC (Figure 1a). Cabernet Sauvignon wine dealcoholised to 6.0 % (v/v) by RO was associated with a high degree of sweetness, while Listán Prieto wine dealcoholised to 6.0 % (v/v) by SCC was associated with high acidity (Figure 2b). Regarding Listán Prieto wines, the judges significantly preferred the wines dealcoholised by RO to those dealcoholised by SCC (Figure 1b); the preferred samples corresponded to Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised by RO up to an ethanol content of 6.0 % (v/v). The least preferred wines were Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised by SCC to an ethanol content of 6.0 % (v/v) (Figure 1b). Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised by RO to 6.0 and 0.5 % were related to sweetness and aromatic intensity respectively (Figure 2b).
Figure 1. Two-way ANOVA of professional liking scores. a) the beverage samples were analysed simultaneously, and b) the beverages were analysed separately for the Listán Prieto variety. RO: reverse osmosis; SCC: spinning cone columns; P: Listán Prieto; CB: Cabernet Sauvignon. Means with the same letter within the bar chart are not significantly different (FPLSD test (rank), α = 5 %). Beverages were categorized from 1, most preferred, to 6 (for Fig. 1a) and 4 (for Fig. 1b), least preferred.

Regarding the sensory attributes perceived by the judges, differences were only found in the acidity level of the beverages, which depended on the ethanol removal technique (Figure 2a). Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 0.5 and 6.0 % (v/v) by SCC were higher in acidity than Cabernet Sauvignon and Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised to 6.0 % (v/v) by RO (Figure 2a). Regarding hedonic quality, Listán Prieto and Cabernet Sauvignon wines dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 6.0 % by RO were considered to be higher in acceptability than the dealcoholised wines by SCC and the Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 0.5 % (v/v) by RO.
According to the results of the principal component analysis (PCA), Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 0.5 % (v/v) by SCC were positively related to bitterness, astringency and red fruits, whereas Cabernet Sauvignon and Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised at 6.0 % (v/v) by RO were directly related to sweetness and acceptability. Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 6.0 % (v/v) by SCC were positively related to acidity and negatively related to acceptability, whereas Cabernet Sauvignon and Listán Prieto wines dealcoholised to an ethanol content of 0.5 % (v/v) were positively related to aromatic intensity.
Figure 2. Multiple comparison of sensory attributes perceived by judges in the sensory analysis and principal component analysis of the sensory attributes of wines subjected to dealcoholisation by reverse osmosis (RO) and spinning cone columns (SCC). RO: reverse osmosis; SCC: spinning cone columns; P: Listán Prieto; CB: Cabernet Sauvignon. 0 %: 0.5 %. *Means with same letter within the bar chart are not significantly different (Tukey test, α = 5 %).

Conclusions
The dealcoholised wines were characterised by medium aromatic intensities, high levels of acidity, low body, and very low sweetness and bitterness. The sensory analysis revealed that the professional panel tended to prefer the wines which had been dealcoholised by reverse osmosis (RO) to those dealcoholised by spinning cone columns (SCC). The acidity level was the only attribute that varied significantly among wines. SCC produced dealcoholised wines with high acidity compared to those with a 6.0 % (v/v) ethanol content by RO, which were correlated with a high hedonic quality and sweetness. These results are important, because they can contribute to providing the wine industry with an alternative means of producing non-alcoholic wine. In addition, SCC is an expensive technology to date and RO equipment can be rented by wineries and cooperatives, thus making this technology available to small wine-producers and thereby diversifying their production.
The translation of this article into English was offered to you by Moët Hennessy.
Notes
- Gil, M., Estévez, S., Kontoudakis, N., Fort, F., Canals, J. M., & Zamora, F. (2013). Influence of partial dealcoholization by reverse osmosis on red wine composition and sensory characteristics. European Food Research and Technology, 237(4), 481–488.
- Gil, M., Estévez, S., Kontoudakis, N., Fort, F., Canals, J. M., & Zamora, F. (2013). Influence of partial dealcoholization by reverse osmosis on red wine composition and sensory characteristics. European Food Research and Technology, 237(4), 481–488.
- Gil, M., Estévez, S., Kontoudakis, N., Fort, F., Canals, J. M., & Zamora, F. (2013). Influence of partial dealcoholization by reverse osmosis on red wine composition and sensory characteristics. European Food Research and Technology, 237(4), 481–488.
- van Leeuwen, C., Roby, J. P., & Ollat, N. (2019). Viticulture in a changing climate: solutions exist: Original language of the article: English. IVES Technical Reviews, vine and wine.
- Gil, M., Estévez, S., Kontoudakis, N., Fort, F., Canals, J. M., & Zamora, F. (2013). Influence of partial dealcoholization by reverse osmosis on red wine composition and sensory characteristics. European Food Research and Technology, 237(4), 481–488.
- Petrozziello, M., Panero, L., Guaita, M., Prati, R., Marani, G., Zinzani, G., & Bosso, A. (2019). Effect of the extent of ethanol removal on the volatile compounds of a Chardonnay wine dealcoholized by vacuum distillation. BIO Web of Conferences, 12, 02020.
- Petrozziello, M., Panero, L., Guaita, M., Prati, R., Marani, G., Zinzani, G., & Bosso, A. (2019). Effect of the extent of ethanol removal on the volatile compounds of a Chardonnay wine dealcoholized by vacuum distillation. BIO Web of Conferences, 12, 02020.
- Roessler, E. B., Baker, G. A., & Amerine, M. A. (1956). One-tailed and two-tailed tests in organoleptic comparisons. Journal of Food Science, 21(1), 117–121.
References
- Gil, M., Estévez, S., Kontoudakis, N., Fort, F., Canals, J. M., & Zamora, F. (2013). Influence of partial dealcoholization by reverse osmosis on red wine composition and sensory characteristics. European Food Research and Technology, 237(4), 481–488.
- van Leeuwen, C., Roby, J. P., & Ollat, N. (2019). Viticulture in a changing climate: solutions exist: Original language of the article: English. IVES Technical Reviews, vine and wine. https://doi.org/10.20870/IVES-TR.2019.2530
- Petrozziello, M., Panero, L., Guaita, M., Prati, R., Marani, G., Zinzani, G., & Bosso, A. (2019). Effect of the extent of ethanol removal on the volatile compounds of a Chardonnay wine dealcoholized by vacuum distillation. BIO Web of Conferences, 12, 02020.
- Roessler, E. B., Baker, G. A., & Amerine, M. A. (1956). One-tailed and two-tailed tests in organoleptic comparisons. Journal of Food Science, 21(1), 117–121.
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