The main goal of this article is to be in support of producers and consultants of small and medium wineries who are looking for a practical, accurate and reliable method for sulphur dioxide determination with the purpose of carrying out the control of their wines independently and straight in the winery.
In the food sector, and especially in the wine sector, the subject of sulphur dioxide turns out to be always of great relevance, since it evolves rapidly over time both as a result of production regulations, but also and especially because of the general trend to lower or eliminate the use of sulphur dioxide in production. More and more, indeed, there are producers who want to guarantee consumers a wine with few or no added chemicals (that could alter the nature of the product) while maintaining high quality standards.
For these (and many other) reasons, it is essential to stay constantly updated on the subject.
In the past we have already written several articles related to sulphur dioxide analysis. In this new paper, in addition to summarizing all the pivotal concepts revolving around the topic of sulphur dioxide analysis in wine carried out both at the production and pre-bottling stages, we have introduced an analysis of all the options that a small and medium-sized winery can consider in order to equip itself with an in-house tool to carry out this analysis.
More specifically, we examine the main methods of determination of this important oenological molecule, providing a comparison (complete with pros and cons) between the official OIV analysis methods (distillation and iodometric titration) and all types of instruments, traditional and innovative, currently on the market that allow you to do these analyses independently directly in the winery.
We are well aware that those who aim to internalize sulphur dioxide analysis often find themselves having to disentangle themselves from instrumentation that, on first assessment, seems similar in terms of practicality, but is actually very different from each other in terms of analytical performance and interpretation of results.
Our aim is, first and foremost, to put ourselves in the shoes of those who are responsible for quality control in small to medium-sized wineries, who are looking for easy but reliable solutions to improve the quality of their work and that of their products.
