Despite all the efforts made to replace sulphur dioxide in wines, including physical, chemical or biological treatments, none of them has demonstrated enough effectiveness to completely substitute sulphur dioxide so a decisive alternative to sulphites is still unknown.
Chitosan is the deacetylated product of chitin, a homopolymer of n-acetyl-glucosamine, extracted from shell, insects of fungal sources. Its features like metal chelation, multifaceted antioxidant and radical scavenging activities against hydroxyl and superoxide radicals makes this natural products very attractive to use in food and agriculture sciences.
The use of chitosan has been authorized in must and wine for microbial stabilization, or metal and protein removal (‘Commission Regulation (EU) 53/2011 of 21 January 2011’) but its use as an antioxidant is still scarcely studied.
The aim of this work was to study the effects of the fermentative addition of chitosan on fixed and volatile compounds of sulphites free white wines. Studies of the difference between sulphite-free white wines and those added with sulphur dioxide in fermented must and after 12 months of storage were carried out.
Article based on the poster presented at the at the 10th edition of Enoforum (May 16th-18th, 2017, Vicenza, Italy)
Ana Hranilovic 1, 2; Marina Bely 1; Isabelle Masneuf-Pomarede 1,3;..
The seasonal character of harvests limits winemaking considerably, especially oenological..
