Science Spark : should we add enzyme to release more aroma in a poor wine?

If you one day try to make wine, you ll take grapes, let them ferment for some weeks, somehow filter and get something to drink. If you follow the molecules present in the grapes, you ll see that some of them will disappear during the fermentation, to give birth to aroma compounds. Those molecules, known as "aroma precursors", need some help to release the aroma: they get it from enzyme, which will cut the molecule in two, one of the moiety being the aroma.

Zhu et al, from Qinhuangdao University in China then got the following idea : what if some aroma precursors did not manage to release their aroma ? They would then be in our glass of wine ? Could we then release them? By adding enzyme?

So, they took Cabernet Sauvignonand and divided it in two. In one, they add β-glycosidase, in the other nothing. Using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, they were able to see the action of the β-glycosidase and the formation of aroma. Even more : they could confirm it by a tasting.

So, should we all have a small bag of β-glycosidase with us to pour it in a wine with a poor nose ? Could we then make it better?

Zhu, F.-M., Du, B. and Li, J. (2014), Aroma enhancement and enzymolysis regulation of grape wine using β-glycosidase. Food Science & Nutrition. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.84

Science Spark : Health Benefits of Wine: Don’t Expect Resveratrol Too Much

The resveratrol is a polyphenol found in wine, and is mainly known to be at origin of the French Paradox (ie  improved cardiovascular outcomes despite a high-fat diet in French people, ie the reason why French people, although they eat good and drink wine are healthier).  Many scientific studies have focused on the way resveratrol could act, or how terroir, fermentation or other wine making practice could influence its content in wine.

However, a recent study published in Food Chemistry made an interesting test : Xiang et al have extracted  several polyphenols from red wine to apply them on a cell and test their antioxidant activity. Results :

• There was no significant difference between the prime red wine and the red wine adding 10 fold resveratrol on neuroprotective effects on SH-SY5Y cell line.

•  The contribution percentage of resveratrol to the antioxidant activity of red wine was less than other tested polyphenols. 

They then conclude that "resveratrol may be negligible with respect to healthy benefits of red wine.".

Limin Xiang, Lingyun Xiao, Yihai Wang, Haifeng Li, Zebo Huang, Xiangjiu He

Health Benefits of Wine: Don’t Expect Resveratrol Too Much

Food Chemistry, Available online 17 January 2014

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.01.006

 To learn more about Resveratrol :
 Significance of wine and resveratrol in cardiovascular disease: French paradox revisited., idavalur R, Otani H, Singal PK, Maulik N. Exp Clin Cardiol. 2006 Fall; 11(3):217-25; 

Bianchini, F., and H. Vainio. "Wine and resveratrol: mechanisms of cancer prevention?." European journal of cancer prevention 12.5 (2003): 417-425.