Techniques and methods for chemical, physical and sensory analyses and tests of grapes and wine

The Techniques and methods book — how to perform the analyses and tests

This revised and up-dated  book,  ‘Techniques and methods for chemical, physical and sensory analyses and tests of grapes and wine’ complements the Theory and concepts book, ‘Theory and concepts of chemical, physical and sensory analyses and tests of grapes and wine’.

These two new books —  1) the ‘Techniques and methods’ and 2) the ‘Theory and concepts’  books  have combined, revised and up-dated the material that was in our previous books ‘Chemical analysis of grapes and wine: techniques and concepts’ and ‘Monitoring the winemaking process from grapes to wine: techniques and concepts’.

The ‘Techniques and methods’ book is 142 matt plastic-coated colour-coded A4 pages. It provides —

• a comprehensive, up to date coverage of the practice of the major chemical, physical and sensory analyses and tests conducted throughout the winemaking process;
• a wide range of chemical analyses and tests of grapes, juice and wine; 
• helpful hints and troubleshooting sections give many practical clues to make it easy to investigate any problems in carrying out the methods;
• instructions for each analysis follow a step-by-step procedure; 
• procedures for various additions in the winery, such as acid and sulfur dioxide, as well as fining trials and stability tests;
• basic sensory evaluation techniques and
• colour photographs illustrate analytical techniques, titration endpoints, apparatus and instrumentation. 

The book is ideally suited for day-to-day use in the wine laboratory, as a training resource and as a student text in wine courses.

The authors include academics, winemakers and industry personnel with many years of experience in teaching, research and industry practice.

Techniques and methods include

• Health and safety awareness
• Laboratory equipment/chemicals
• Solutions, standard solutions, and terms and units of measurement
• Calibrating laboratory equipment
• Validating and checking methods
• Calculations
• General formulae for calculations
• Pipetting and buretting techniques
• Juice total soluble solids
• pH measurement
• Titratable acidity
• Sulfur dioxide
• Reducing sugars
• Volatile acidity
• Alcoholic strength
• Detecting malic and lactic acids by paper/thin layer chromatography
• Carbon dioxide
• Ammonia and free amino acids
• Anthocyanins (colour) and total phenolics of grape berries
• Red wine phenolic measures
• White wine spectral measures
• Tannin analysis
• Pectin in grape juice
• Spectrophometric analysis
• Planning for vintage
• Vineyard sampling
• Determining vineyard yield
• Processing a berry/bunch sample to obtain juice
• Cleaning, sanitising and sterilising
• Sampling procedures
• Monitoring fermentation
• Turbidity measures
• Filterability
• Sensory evaluation of wines
• Additives, fining agents and processing aids
• Additions of acid, enzymes, deacidification agents, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen peroxide,
  diammonium phosphate, tannins and ascorbic acid, oak derived components, gases, yeast and malolactic bacteria.
• Fining agents
• Fining trials
• Stability tests — protein, tartrate, oxidative and colour
• Laccase activity in grapes, juice and wines
• Identification of hazes and deposits
• Bottling wines

Title: ‘Techniques and methods for chemical, physical and sensory analyses and tests of grapes and wine’

Authors:

Patrick Iland OAM Editor and author

Patrick has a degree in Chemistry from the Queensland Institute of Technology, and Masters and PhD degrees from The University of Adelaide. He taught wine chemistry and viticulture at Roseworthy Agricultural College and The University of Adelaide for over 40 years. Patrick has co-authored several books on viticulture and wine. He is a director of Patrick Iland Wine Promotions, publishers of educational wine books.

David Bruer

David Bruer has degrees in Chemistry from The University of Adelaide and Flinders University. He taught wine chemistry at Roseworthy Agricultural College for 15 years. He is CEO of Temple Bruer Wines P/L, one of Australia’s largest organic and preservative-free wine producers — a position he has held for over 30 years.

Nick Bruer

Nick has degrees in Chemical Engineering from The University of Adelaide and in Wine Science from Charles Sturt University. He worked for 12 years as an oenologist and technical services specialist with The Australian Wine Research Institute. He joined Orlando Wine in 2001, and is currently Senior Winemaker and Operations Manager with Pernod Ricard in the Barossa Valley.

Sue Caloghiris

Sue has more than 20 years’ experience in winery and research laboratories, including 14 years in the analytical service laboratory of The Australian Wine Research Institute. She was the managing director of Bibber International which provided several services to the wine industry, including vintage placements in Australia and internationally. Sue has a Graduate Diploma in Management, and is currently completing a Bachelor of Health Science in Nutritional Medicine.

Greg Edwards

Greg has an Honours degree in Chemical Technology from the University of South Australia. He worked as a chemist and laboratory manager with the Yalumba Wine Company for over 17 years in the areas of laboratory quality management and methods development. Greg is currently the laboratory manager at Vinpac International in the Barossa Valley.

Andrew Ewart

Andrew holds a degree in Horticultural Science from Lincoln University and a Masters degree from the Department of Viticulture and Enology, the University of California, Davis. He taught oenology and sensory evaluation at Roseworthy Agricultural College and The University of Adelaide. After 27 years in teaching and research, Andrew spent 10 years as the Chief Winemaker/ Viticulturist at Mountadam Vineyard and is currently a wine consultant.

Chris Ford

Chris has a DPhil. in microbial biochemistry from the University of Sussex (UK) and has worked in the University of Adelaide for over 30 years. He has been conducting research into grapes and wine since 1995, and a member of the academic staff of The University of Adelaide teaching into undergraduate and postgraduate degrees since 2001. He is presently the Deputy Head of School (international) for the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide.

Andrew Markides

With a PhD in Microbiology from The University of New South Wales, Andrew has devoted more than 20 years service as a university academic at Charles Sturt University, Roseworthy Agricultural College and The University of Adelaide, teaching wine microbiology and winemaking. From 2001 Andrew worked with the Lallemand Biotechnology Group for 11 years.

John Sitters

John has a degree in Applied Science (Wine Science) from Charles Sturt University. He has over 20 years’ experience in laboratory management. He has gained extensive expertise in quality control practices in both the cellar and laboratory during his time as a Senior Technical Officer at Roseworthy Agricultural College and The University of Adelaide.

Eric Wilkes

Eric Wilkes completed his PhD in chemistry at the University of Newcastle in 1997. Prior to joining the Australian Wine Research Institute in 2011 where he is Group Manager Commercial Services, he had a range of national and global roles in wine and beverage production. Current areas of research include wine stability, metals and methods to determine authenticity. He is a past Chair of the Interwinery Analysis Group, and a regular speaker at national and international regulatory and wine chemistry conferences.