Visit Sacramento and Slow Food International will host Terra Madre Americas, the American version of the internationally acclaimed Terra Madre Salone del Gusto food conference May 17th – 19th at the Sacramento Convention Center. Programming focuses on three key Slow Food themes – wine, coffee and biocultural territories of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The event is free to the public and brings together wineries, food producers, scientists, cooks, and researchers from the United States and Latin America for educational and interactive experiences for all ages. Additional ticketed event opportunities including Slow Wine USA masterclasses programmed by Slow Wine USA editors Deborah Parker Wong and Pam Strayer with producers from the 2024 Slow Wine USA guide.
Saturday, 5/18
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Slow Wine: Take Your Time, Everyday Wines: Wines Priced $30 and Under, $50
Speakers: Deborah Parker Wong, journalist and Slow Wine USA director, and Pam Strayer, journalist and Slow Wine USA co-director.
Little known fact: Lodi and the Sierra Foothills offer affordable, artisanal wines (priced below $30). Explore California wines from lesser-known varieties originally from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain that have taken root here. Discover a Portuguese white, a lightly sparkling Mourvedre from El Dorado, a red blend from Amador County, Sangiovese from biodynamic vines in Lodi, a low alcohol Italian red blend, and heritage Cinsault from historic vines in this masterclass.
Sunday, 5/19
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Slow Wine goes Local
Speakers: Deborah Parker Wong and Pam Strayer The region of “Superior California” encompassing Lodi, the Sierra Nevada Foothills, the California Delta and Yolo County is home to a wealth of old vine vineyards and the Slow Wine producers who cherish them. We’ve selected wines that tell the story of these terroirs and showcase the talents of the makers whose efforts have preserved their heritage. The region favors heat-loving varieties including Cinsault, Syrah and Zinfandel but there are surprises like Albarino around every corner.
3:00 PM -4:00 PM
Growing Great Grapes: Amador County’s Legendary Shake Ridge Ranch
Speakers: Deborah Parker Wong and Pam Strayer
California’s best winemakers and emerging vintners alike come to Sutter Creek to get great grapes. Since 2005, winemakers–from Napa’s top tiers to fledgling natural vintners–have coveted the 14 varieties legendary vineyardist Anne Kraemer meticulously grows in Amador County in the Sierra foothills from Barbera, Grenache and Syrah to Tempranillo and Zinfandel. See why in this sampling of terroir-driven wines with Kraemer and selected winemakers.
For more information contact: Deborah Parker Wong, deborahparkerwong@gmail.com.
Pictured from left to right at SOStain Sicilia’s second International Symposium on Sustainable Interactions are moderator Anna Favella and panelists Maurizio Cellura, Marco Pistocchini, Attilio Carapezza, Paolo Fontana, Gianluca Sarà, Gaetano Benedetto, and Francesco Picciotto.
Biodiversity equals stability was the key message at Sicily’s second international SOStain symposium.
It isn’t well known that the Italian island of Sicily is home to the greatest biodiversity in the European Union, stemming from the fact that that the island is a bridge between Europe and Africa, according to Gaetano Benedetto, president of the World Wildlife Foundation Italy Study Center.
The drive to protect its flora and fauna is evident in the rapid adoption of organic certification by its winegrowers. With a dry Mediterranean climate and windy conditions that allow for fewer inputs in the vineyards, the island is naturally suited to organic production and has the most certified-organic land under vine of any region in Italy: over 37,000 hectares, which account for 35% of the country’s total.
There are several factors driving sustainability efforts both in Sicily and on the mainland of Italy, many of which were discussed at SOStain Sicilia’s second International Symposium on Sustainable Interactions, held on October 5, 2023, in Torre del Barone di Sciacca.
SOStain Sicilia is led by president Alberto Tasca d’Almerita and a board of directors composed of five producers who represent a cross-section of the industry: Giuseppe Bursi sits on behalf of cooperatives, Letizia Russo of large companies, Arianna Occhipinti of small companies practicing organic agriculture and biodynamics, and Alberto Tasca and Alessio Planeta of family businesses. SOStain was jointly established by the Consorzio di Tutela Vini DOC Sicilia and winemakers’ association Assovini Sicilia in 2020.
The agency, which does not allow members of its program to use synthetic herbicides, is based on the specifications of VIVA, a program developed by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security in 2011 to promote sustainability within the Italian wine sector.
SOStain’s main goals are promoting inclusivity, as producers do not have to be certified to participate in certain aspects of its program, and fostering the involvement of all players in the wine supply chain, making it one of the most progressive sustainabilitycertification programs to date.
The symposium was organized into three sections—Nature, Economy, and Society—with talks by 13 academic presenters (myself among them), followed by four partner presentations that demonstrated the agency of SOStain Sicilia in putting action behind its initiatives.
Ernesto Ghigna, European marketing director for O-I, introduced a wine bottle composed of 100% Sicilian glass; weighing 410 grams, it has a 90% recycle rate. Given the difficulty of achieving carbon neutrality in glass production, O-I relied on existing infrastructure in Marsala and a nearby cullet supplier to create a one-of-a-kind “closed-loop economy” in which glass bottles are produced, sold, and eventually recycled into cullet, fromwhich more bottles are produced. The initiative produced its first bottles in May.
In her opening remarks, Lucrezia Lamastra, president of SOStain’s scientific committee and professor at the Catholic University of Piacenza, noted that the annual carbon savings of the program are equal to 1,000 flights around the globe.
Among the compelling presentations on the natural world, “Biodiversity as a Keystone in a Changing World” was riveting in its clarity. Gianluca Sarà, professor and coordinator of ecology laboratory at Palermo University, stated in no uncertain terms: “Biodiversity is the basic layer of the foundation upon which sustainability is built. Any loss of biodiversity undermines the entire ecosystem, and it jeopardizes the flexibility and the resilience of our planet.”
Sarà, who coordinates marine biology studies, described the need for a paradigm shift in which we see ourselves as protectors rather than exploiters of the ecosystem. The takeaway: biodiversity equals stability.
Sarà’s talk served as the connective tissue for discussions by Paolo Fontana, entomologist at Fondazione Edmund Mach in Trento, about the impact of synthetic inputs on bees and the species’ viability as an indicator of environmental health and by Attilio Carapezza, entomologist and president of the Sicilian FonSociety of Natural Sciences, about the unprecedented decline of insects.
Carapezza noted, for instance, that Germany recorded an overall biomass loss of 78%. “We cannot live without insects; they first emerged in the Devonian era, and their disappearance would shatter our existence,” he remarked. “A world without insects means a world without chocolate.
The cacao plant is pollinated by a very tiny insect that has evolved for this purpose.” He pointed to the increasing threat of invasive species, which could result in the loss of palm trees and palm beetles.
Speaking on the topic of energy transition, Maurizio Cellura, director of the Center for Sustainability and Ecological Transition at the University of Palermo, began with citing the need for a universal language or “grammar” of sustainability, proposing a course to train educators in metrics and the skills needed for the transition to a sustainable economy.
He pointed to the “tough choices” facing us as the raw materials critical to producing fuel cells, i.e. solar panels, decline. “We need to stretch our practice areas and to seek new renewable sources—those that will transfer us to a circular economy,” Cellura said. “To do that, we must develop synergies that connect the sourcing of raw materials and the supply chain to climate justice.”
In addition to moderator Anna Favella and Lamastra, who presented an overview of SOStain’s results to date, I was the only other woman and the only English speaker to present as part of a panel that day. My talk, titled “The Sustainability Certification Landscape in California and US Market Trends,” provided a snapshot of where the California wine industry currently stands in terms of adoption and compliance with sustainable mandates.
Author and SOMM Journal global wine editor Deborah Parker Wong was invited to discuss the sustainability-certification landscape in California and the market value of organic-, biodynamic-, and regenerative-certified wines.
“The evolution of the wine industry certification landscape in California has resulted in a dizzying array of regional and national certifying organizations that stand under the sustainability umbrella,” I explained.
“And while these efforts have positioned California as a leader in sustainable practices in the United States, ours is a complex landscape that is constantly evolving and . . . particularly challenging for consumers to navigate in an informed and empowered way.”
This scenario stands in stark contrast to the streamlined and transparent certification system being championed by SOStain in Sicily. Drinks Business editor-in chief Patrick Schmitt, MW, remarked that the talk had the effect of an “exposé” in pulling back the curtain on what passes as sustainably certified in California.
There’s more than alcohol at work when we pour a glass of grassy Sauvignon Blanc and feel a deep sense of relief. For varietal wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Grüner Veltliner, grassiness is a positive aroma descriptor with which many consumers can readily identify. In a 2021 survey of 2,000 consumers commissioned by Swiss decongestant brand Olbas, the smell of fresh-cut grass ranked number one among 20 different aromas (not all of which were pleasant) in terms of its ability to recall childhood memories. Researchers have found that odor-evoked memories like those connected to the smell of grass are linked with the first decade of life and tend to be highly emotional, vivid, and specific.
The distinct smell of newly mown grass is the result of a volatile chemical cocktail known as green leaf volatiles (GLVs). GLVs are a combination of aldehydes (including hexanal and hexenal), terpenes, and pheromones that are released by plants in great quantities to act as a warning signal to other plants and insects when they are being damaged. Plants also emit GLVs to attract predatory insects when they are being attacked by pests and use them as protection against fungi and frost damage, as GLVs have antifungal properties that can inhibit the growth and development of certain fungal pathogens and also contribute to the overall stress tolerance of plants, making them better equipped to withstand environmental stresses.
Scientists believe that GLVs smell good to humans because they remind us of food: Vegetables release them when chopped and fruit releases them as it matures. In effect, we are genetically programmed to react positively to this smell, but the positive associations that many people have with these compounds can also be linked to childhood memories. Known anecdotally as the Proust Phenomenon—so named for the French novelist Marcel Proust, “who was particularly interested in understanding the mechanics of his own being and the role memory played within it,” according to the book Smell, Memory, and Literature in the Black Country, edited by Sebastian Groes and R.M. Francis—this is what researchers refer to as olfactory nostalgia. Odors that evoke nostalgia have a positive impact on self-esteem, self-continuity, optimism, social connectedness, and a sense of meaning.
Odors that evoke nostalgia have a positive impact on self-esteem, self-continuity, optimism, social connectedness, and a sense of meaning.
Interestingly, the aldehydes hexanal and hexenal contribute to the aromas of freshly cut grass and tomato leaf found in Sauvignon Blanc, particularly that produced in New Zealand and the Loire Valley. The factors that contribute to making New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc so distinctly grassy are many, but one is its location in the Southern Hemisphere, where growing regions receive 30%–40% more ultraviolet (UV) light than do their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere at similar latitudes. In New Zealand, most of this UV is felt in the summer, but higher levels are present in the fall as well; meanwhile, cool coastal nights allow for long ripening while maintaining acidity. When combined with the approach of harvesting fruit at varying levels of ripeness, a production method that is now widely used in California, these factors can yield a blend with the level of grassiness desired for a particular style or brand.
According to Groes and Tom Mercer, with whom Groes cowrote a chapter on the Proust Phenomenon in the aforementioned book, the phenomenon’s wider significance lies in triggering strong, emotive childhood memories that we may have forgotten, in a sense reconnecting us with our former selves. This olfactory nostalgia is considered beneficial because it affords us the possibility of perspective and contemplation. The next time you’re swirling a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and appreciating its grassy aromas, take a moment to imagine your younger self and reflect upon what life choices, motives, and desires have brought you to today.
Sustainability is a catch-all term that’s tossed around casually to refer to just about anything even remotely related to climate action, resource conservation, and land stewardship. But for Martin Reyes, MW, and the panel of winemakers that joined him for the “Napa Valley’s Green Scene” session at SommCon in San Diego in September, achieving sustainability requires taking concrete steps with the intention of ensuring the viability of the planet, the broader community, and the wines that are grown and produced in Napa Valley well into the future.
A man of many talents and founder of his own consultancy, the Reyes Wine Group, Reyes is an industry leader. In addition to his professional accomplishments and the many hats he wears, which include joining importer WineWise as partner in 2022, he’s a passionate advocate for climate action and the cofounder of the Napa RISE event series, which has elevated the discussion around sustainability initiatives in Napa Valley to new heights.
Martin Reyes MW
The session opened with an impassioned plea by Reyes to budding activists: “Start a study group so you can relearn together and climb on the shoulders of those like our panelists, who are leading the charge.” From there, each panelist spoke about their work while reinforcing their message through the wines they presented.
Trois Noix
First up was Jaime Araujo; the founder of Trois Noix, whose name means “Three Nuts” in French and newly-elected board member of Napa Valley Vintners, she views wine as a catalyst for social change. Trois Noix is a Certified B Corp, which means that its practices have been assessed across five categories: governance (which concerns accountability and transparency); worker welfare; community welfare; environmental stewardship; and customer impact.
“Being small makes it easier to track the requirements for B Corp, and we work on it every single day,” she said. “We query vendors about what they are doing; we’ve moved to cotton instead of tree paper labels; and [we’ve] addressed bottle weights and other aspects of packaging.” For instance, she recently packaged a Sauvignon Blanc in recycled bottles from Conscious Container. Such efforts are key when it comes to “being proactive for the future of our planet and . . . prioritizing what matters most in our climate-action efforts,” she told Reyes.
Jaime Araujo, Trois Noix
The Trois Noix 2021 Muir-Hanna Vineyard Chardonnay, hailing from Napa’s Oak Knoll District, was powerful, with tropical-fruit intensity. Grower Bill Hanna, a direct descendant of naturalist John Muir, is currently working to introduce regenerative farming to the historic designated vineyard.
Jackson Family Wines
As the man responsible for “turning the ship” of farming at Jackson Family Wines in Napa Valley, winemaker (and Slow Food activist) Chris Carpenter oversaw the certification of hundreds of estate acres by California Certified Organic Farming (CCOF) in 2022. He spoke passionately about the failure of chemical fertilizers, which have merely served as a Band-Aid on depleted soils: “Chemical inputs end up in the groundwater, the lakes, and the oceans,” he pointed out. “The results are pollution, pests, and vine diseases.”
Chris Carpenter, Jackson Family Wines
He believes that vineyard health can be restored by keeping the soil in a vegetative state with plants that feed it: “The job of the farmer is to harvest energy, which is the symbiosis of plants and microbes.” Carpenter presented the producer’s 2019 Mt. Brave Cabernet Franc. Made from Mount Veeder fruit grown above the fog line, it exuded lavender and violets; bright, focused notes of mulberry and black tea; and restrained tannins. “Quality has gotten better since the conversion,” he said. “It’s got to make economic sense to convert and follow the regenerative path.”
Grgich Hills Estate
Ivo Jeramez’s stewardship of his family’s Grgich Hills Estate, where he is vice president and winemaker, has made him one of Napa Valley’s most trusted sources for insight into organic practices and regenerative organic certification, which the winery achieved in 2023.
Ivo Jeramez, Grgich Hills Estate
Grgich Hills is a veritable case study in the economic benefits of organic farming: “The current yearly cost of farming a single acre of vineyard in the Napa Valley is $15,000 on average, while our costs are $11,000 per acre,” Jeramez said, resulting in savings of more than $1 million every year. “On top of that, our yields are above average as well”—depending on the variety, he can produce 0.5–1 ton more fruit than is standard in the region. Of course, the resulting wines are also far above average: The Grgich Hills 2018 Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon was fresh and red-fruited, with a sublime balance between umami and oak.
Elizabeth Spencer Winery
Cabernet Sauvignon from a block adjacent to the Grgich vineyard in Yountville was presented by Sarah Vandendriessche, winemaker for Elizabeth Spencer, which is owned by the Boisset Collection.
Vandendriessche, who has been with the winery since 2010, works with consulting winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett in the cellar while coordinating all the sustainability initiatives for Boisset’s California estates. She has a committed relationship with their farmers: “We’re working with growers that are increasingly becoming certified. In terms of agriculture, the wine industry is small, but we’re highly visible. We are a bullhorn of the green message, and we should be putting our money behind our messaging,” she said.
Sarah Vandendriessche, Elizabeth Spencer
The Elizabeth Spencer 2018 Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon represents a major milestone for the brand, which was established 20 years prior to the vintage in 1988. Though built to age, it uses a relatively high percentage of neutral oak, which has long been a marker of the winery’s house style. After five years in the bottle, it was still deeply saturated, showing wellknit, muscular tannins and varietal typicity, including dried herbs and a savory finish.
In his closing comments, Reyes left the room with an upbeat and hopeful attitude. “We are making a great product in Napa Valley, and we can [make it even better] by including more people who have agency in our discussions, by focusing on climate action, and by calling for action,” he said.
“We can do more by asking where our food comes from and by making diversity a priority. These are the ingredients for action. We need to focus on that power and ride the groundswell of momentum that brought us together here today.”
Due to their reputation as vectors for Brettanomyces and their unwelcome presence when discovered swimming in one’s glass, fruit flies have long been viewed as annoying pests by wine drinkers. But as research subjects, they’re surprisingly beneficial: Their brains are teaching us more about how we humans learn to differentiate aromas.
Working in collaboration with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, researchers studying fruit flies at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, have discovered two different types of olfactory neurons attached to the business end of our odor receptor cells: reliable olfactory neurons, which consistently identify odors, and unreliable neurons, which respond to odors unpredictably over time and “learn” to distinguish nuanced odors through experience.
Of our sensory systems (vision, olfaction, taste, hearing, and balance), olfaction is one of the oldest. Our olfactory neurons, which our bodies have the capacity to regenerate, are directly connected to the olfactory bulb, which relays impulses to other brain regions like the somatosensory cortex. The random way unreliable neurons respond originates from circuits deep within the brain—a scenario that, according to researchers, suggests they serve a significant purpose.
The study, conducted by CSHL associate professor Saket Navlakha and Salk Institute researcher Shyam Srinivasan, is based on research that was done years ago by former CSHL assistant professor Glenn Turner, who noticed during trials that some of the olfactory neurons of fruit flies fired consistently while others varied. At the time, those differences were dismissed as background noise and didn’t warrant further investigation.
The humble fruit fly is teaching researchers how our neurons learn to differentiate aromas.
In 2022, Navlakha and Srinivasan decided to take another look, and their research, which also employed fruit flies, identified the origin and purpose of the variability. As part of the study, the team isolated a small group of reliable neurons that responded the same to similar odors and, as a result, help the fruit flies quickly discern different smells. They also isolated a much larger group of unreliable neurons that respond less predictably when detecting similar smells.
These are the neurons that help flies—and us, for that matter—to identify nuanced aromas in, for example, wine as well as to discern novel odors and group them together. The flies’ aversion to unfamiliar odors can be predicted based on the activity of the neurons those odors induce. (You might question how research done on fruit flies could apply to humans. While the humannose of course differs from that of a fruit fly, not to mention those of other mammals, at the microanatomical level our olfactory systems are essentially the same.)
While these neurons are useful, the researchers point out that they require many repeated exposures to take full advantage of their ability to “learn.” This news won’t come as a surprise to those students of wine whose mantra is “taste, taste, taste” when it comes to mastering sensory analysis.
The results of this study could help explain how, through our unreliable neurons, we learn to differentiate between similarities detected by other senses such as taste, sight, and hearing and how we respond based on those sensory inputs—much like the process of transduction, in which our neurons convert aroma and taste compounds into electrochemical signals that our brains can perceive.
In May, Cyril Delarue, a sixth-generation pro- prietor of Champagne Bollinger who oversees the producer’s U.S. interests, celebrated the release of the Bollinger 2008 R.D. Extra Brut ($360) at San Francisco restaurant The Progress.
Sixth-generation Champagne Bollinger proprietor Cyril Delarue presented the 2008 R.D. Extra Brut and eight additional wines at The Progress in San Francisco, CA.
Delarue collaborated with The Progress chef-owner Stewart Brioza in creating a six-course menu that was paired with nine wines ranging in age from the nonvintage Special Cuvée Brut ($150) in magnum to the oldest wine of the evening, the 2002 La Grande Année ($250). The wines were ordered such that the 2002 and 2008 La Grande Année—the cuvée that is selected in superior vintages to become R.D., which stands for “recently disgorged”—were tasted first.
The first vintage of the R.D. Extra Brut was made in 1952 and released in 1967; today, it continues to be highly sought after by collectors for its longevity. The 2008 R.D. Extra Brut is a blend of 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay from 18 crus and simultaneously shows exuberant freshness and development withtoasty aromas, dried stone fruits, and distinct truffle notes that were mirrored in a course of roasted Wolfe Ranch quail with morels and cherry sauce.
Debbie Zachareas, owner/partner of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, had this to say about the tasting: “Special Cuvée is and has always been the ‘basic’ wine that feels like luxury every time you open a bottle. The 2008 R.D. had just enough baby fat to balance the structure and focus of the wine, which has just a hint of brioche. All the wines give you a perspective of the quality of the house.”
The first vintage of the R.D. cuvée was made in 1952 and released in 1967.
Three nonvintage wines—the aforementioned Special Cuvée Brut as well as the Brut Rosé and the PNVZ16 Blanc de Noirs—were poured from magnums, which, as the preferred format for optimum bottle aging, showed them to their best advantage. The 2008 R.D. was also poured from magnum as well as from a 750-milliliter bottle to provide further proof that the larger format slows the wines’ development.
The final wine of the evening, the 2014 La Grand Année Rosé, was playfully paired with a dessert course of yogurt-elderflower floating island with rhubarb sorbet and strawberries.
Champagne Bollinger, nicknamed “Bolly” by fans worldwide, is unique in several ways: It relies on its 403-acre estate for the lion’s share of its grapes and its iconic style is defined by Pinot Noir, which forms the backbone of all of its blends.
Bollinger is also known for sponsoring the Ferrari Challenge North America, a single-make race in which every driver competes in a Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo. In July, more than 80 amateur drivers from across the country competed in the five-day event, held at the Sonoma Raceway in California.
The 2024 Ferrari Roma.
My visit to spectate the fifth round of the Challenge included a leisurely test drive of a 2024 Ferrari Roma—just the second V-8-powered front-engine coupe by the maker—that was both exhilarating and demanding. After spending time behind the wheel of a car called a “rolling sculpture” by Car and Driver, what better way to wind down than with a visit to the Champagne Bollinger Lounge for a glass of NV Special Cuvée?
I spoke with Émilien Boutillat, chef de cave at Champagne Piper Heidsieck, this week from New York for an update on the maison’s sustainability initiatives and the launch of Essentiel in the U.S. Find the video here.
Boutillat took the reins from Régis Camus, who now oversees Rare, in October 2018. He’s a native of Champagne where his father is a grower and has worked in winegrowing regions – including for Peter Michael in Sonoma – around the world.
The interview touches on several topics with an emphasis on the company’s sustainability efforts which include being the first Champagne house to achieve B Corp certification (2022) in addition to holding HVE3 (Haut Valeur Environmentale Level 3) and VDC (Viticulture Durable en Champagne) since 2015. As of 2020 they no longer farm using herbicides and are working with their growers to acheive the same level of stewardship.
Meet Bacchus, the Vitibot, and learn more about Piper Heidsieck’s goals to reduce their and the Champagne AOP’s carbon footprint by reducing bottle weights and with longer term measures through 2050.
Watch for the release of Essentiel, extra brut non-vintage Blanc de Noirs and Blanc de Blanc wines that are aged for six years on the lees, in the U.S. The wines have been available in France and the U.K. but a recent increase in production means they will soon be available here.
If you detected the familiar aroma of coconut in a young Merlot wine, you might surmise that it was derived from barrel aging and characterize it as a secondary aroma. Likewise, if you perceive dried-fruit aromas of figs or prunes, you might conclude that those tertiary aromas indicate the wine had considerable bottle age.
Yet the aromas of coconut and dried fruit that we typically associate with secondary and tertiary development can also be found in must and young wine. In a July 2023 study by Alexandre Pons, a research scientist at the University of Bordeaux and Seguin Moreau France, the compounds responsible for those aromas in must and young red wines were identified as furaneol and homofuraneol.
The concentration of these compounds as well as that of γ-nonalactone, which is reminiscent of coconut and cooked peach, depends on vintage conditions and the amount of sunlight grapes receive during ripening, with the highest levels of γ-nonalactone being found in Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
When grapevines are stressed by heat or by Uncinula necator, a fungus that causes powdery mildew, the metabolism of the berry is affected such that during fermentation yeasts can produce large amounts of γ-nonalactone.
A demonstration of that connection can be seen in Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the 2007 and 2010 vintages in Napa Valley, which yielded higher levels of γ-nonalactone in the wines due to heat spikes close to the harvests.
Winemakers have a particular interest in understanding the origin of coconut and dried-fruit aromas in must, as they can point to premature oxidation. Researchers at the University of Bordeaux have identified both another lactone, massoia lactone, which smells like coconut and dried figs, and (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, a fig-like aldehyde, that contribute cooked and dried-fruit aromas in red grape must.
In a previous column titled “The Trilema of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Aromas,” for the August/ September 2017 issue of The SOMM Journal, I discussed the paradox of grape-derived compounds like 1, 1, 6, -trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN) being categorized as a tertiary aroma when TDN is also found in must and detectable in young wine.
According to research by Vicente Ferreira, head of the Laboratory of Aroma Analysis and Enology at the University of Zaragoza in Spain, tasting rubrics like the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s Systematic Approach to Tasting and the tasting grid preferred by the Court of Master Sommeliers for codifying wine aromas were state of the art when developed, but recent advances have allowed researchers to expand the wine-aroma universe by linking the seven aroma-precursor systems in grapes to potential aromas.
Ferreira’s research pushes beyond the boundaries that have been the standards by which the wine industry has trained wine professionals for the past 50 years. Even though the grape genome was decoded more than ten years ago, we still don’t have an understanding of all the grape metabolites that ultimately contribute to the aromas of wine.
California State University Fresno’s Dr. Miguel Pedroza talks with Matthew Malcom from California Ag Network about his smoke taint research. Pedroza is my graduate advisor and the principle investigator for the study which is the basis of my thesis.
California Ag Network’s Matthew Malcom interviews Dr. Miguel Pedroza who is conducting research at California State University Fresno.
