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The Effect of Simulated Transportation Conditions on the Chemical, Physical and Sensory Profiles of Müller-Thurgau and Scheurebe Wines




Author(s)

Molly Crandles, Martha Wicks-Müller, Christoph Schuessler and Rainer Jung

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5828/2016.04.001

Hochschule Geisenheim University, Von-Lade-Strasse 1, D-65366, Geisenheim, Germany

The impact of different phases of shipment (at sea and at port) on two German white wines of two vintages and the lasting effects of the temperature regimes over time was investigated. The wines were subjected to three temperature programs—control (15 °C), linear increase (15 °C steadily increasing to 45 °C), and diurnal fluctuation (15 °C/40 °C)—in both movement and non-movement conditions. The wines were analyzed for chemical, physical and sensorial changes at one and eight months post-treatment. Changes in temperature and pressure were recorded within the bottles, which correlated with the temperature programs: +0.04 bar/°C in the linear increase program and +0.08 bar/°C in the diurnal fluctuation program. The oxygen levels in the headspace and in the wine were monitored during all of the treatments. The oxygen development in the bottles was similar between the diurnal and linear programs, and was found to be distinctive from the control program. The chemical analysis revealed that there were significant differences related to the experimental treatments of the wines for the following parameters: tartaric acid, free sulfur
dioxide, total sulfur dioxide and percent cork weight loss measurements. Difference sensory testing found very few differences. After eight months storage, significant differences were found in the Diurnal Non-movement treatment compared to Linear Non-movement and control treatments, as well as Diurnal Movement and Control treatments for the 2014 Müller-Thurgau wine. Sensory descriptive analysis of the wines found that the wines could be differentiated by variety, but could not be distinguished according to experimental treatment after one month storage. These results indicate that wines of these types are more robust to shipping conditions than previously found.

Simulated transportation conditions, Scheurebe, Müller-Thurgau, oxygen, descriptive analysis.