Objective
Cork taint refers to a common fault in wine, associated with the presence of haloanisole compounds (particularly, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole or TCA) in large enough concentrations - above 3 ng/l, to degrade the sensorial attributes of wine. Cork taint affects as much as 5% of the bottled wine in Europe, and results in annual losses of €700M. Cork stoppers are the main TCA contamination source. Even though cork stoppers are already treated in the cork manufacturing plant to prevent cork taint, recontamination occurs unavoidably as a result of the presence of chlorophenolic and other non-biodegradable chemicals in the environment, which are transformed into anisole compounds by metabolic reactions related to the presence of fungi. Currently, there is not any effective technology in the market to grant the absence of haloanisoles in cork stoppers. This project aims at developing a new TCA decontamination method that will be easily adapted and integrated “in-line” into any existing wine bottling line. The technology has already been tested at the laboratory scale, and has demonstrated its effectiveness to degrade TCA, in spite of the high chemical stability of this chemical. By performing this treatment immediately before sealing the wine bottles, the risk of recontamination will be virtually eliminated. Through a group of SMEs in the consortium, it is foreseen that this technology will be industrialized and commercialized within a short period after the completion of the project. The availability of this technology will benefit thousands of Europan small and medium size wineyards, which will be able to further improve the quality of their products, and avoid costs associated with unsatisfied customers.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2010-1
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
BSG-SME - Research for SMEsCoordinator
70174 Stuttgart
Germany