Grape ripening and harvest. Chemical composition of grapes and wine. Evolution of the main organic and inorganic compounds during vinification. Sulphur-dioxide: properties and use in winemaking. Crushing, destemming, draining and pressing. Winemaking processes for red, white and rosé wines. Carbonic maceration. Specific wine styles: sparkling, sweet and fortified wines. Techniques of grape drying.
Handbook of enology. Vol. I e II. P. Ribereau-Gayon, D. Dubourdieu, B. Donèche, A. Lonvaud. Wiley Ed.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge: general chemical characteristics of grapes and wine. Main chemical and enzymatic reactions that occur during the winemaking process. Main operations for the vinification in red, white, rosé and for some particular types of wine.
Skills acquired at the end of the course: skills to understand and identify, in the following courses, the role of the main chemical compounds of grapes and wine in the definition of product characteristics.
Skills to identify strategies to favor or disadvantage chemical reactions that can occur during the ripening of grapes and winemaking.
Skills to perform the main operations of the winemaking process in red, white, rosé and the winemaking process for the production of particular types of wine.
Ability acquired at the end of the course: ability to implement strategies to manage winemaking processes according to production objectives and quality of the raw material.
Prerequisites
Students are expected to be familiar with the principles and terminology of inorganic and organic chemistry, analytical chemistry.
Courses required: none
Courses recommended: General and inorganic chemistry, Organic chemistry, Analytical chemistry
Teaching Methods
Total course hours (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 225
Hours reserved for private study and other indivual formative activities: 144
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 50
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 0
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 28
Seminars (hours): 3
Stages: 0
Intermediate examinations: 0
Type of Assessment
Oral examination at the end of the course. The questions will be formulated in such a way as to verify that the student has acquired specific knowledge and the ability to elaborate and correlate the issues addressed during the course. In particular, the ability to organize the presentation of the acquired knowledge, the ability to critically reason about the study carried out and the competence in the use of specialist vocabulary will be evaluated.
Course program
Chemical profile of grapes and wines: general aspects. Grape ripening. Sugars. Acids of grapes and wine. Inorganic constituents. Buffering capacity of must and wine. Nitrogen compounds. Polyphenolic compounds of grapes and wine. Evolution of anthocyanins and tannins during grape ripening and vinification. Aroma compounds: general aspects. Varietal aroma, pre-fermentative and fermentative aroma compounds, aging aroma. Sulphur dioxide: enological properties and use in winemaking. Classification of Italian wines: table wines, IGT, DOC, DOCG. Harvest and transport of grapes to the winery. Mechanical operations: crushing, destemming, draining and pressing. Wine vats. Red vinification. Management of maceration. Factors affecting the extraction of grape compounds. Vinification with carbonic maceration. White and rosé vinification. Wine maturation and aging. Specific wine types: general aspects. Sparkling wines: traditional and Charmat methods. Asti sparkling wine. Sweet and fortified wines. Botrytized wines: Sauternes, Tokay. Techniques of grape drying. Vin Santo-style wines.