Due to the increase of sugar levels in wine grapes as one of the impacts of climate change, alcohol reduction in wines becomes a major focus of interest. This study combines the use of glucose oxidase and catalase activities with the aim of rapid conversion of glucose into non-fermentable gluconic acid. The H2O2 hydrolysing activity of purified catalase is necessary in order to stabilize glucose oxidase activity. After establishing the adequate enzyme ratio, the procedure was applied in large-scale trials (16L- and 220L-scale) of which one was conducted in a winery under industrial wine making conditions. Both enzyme activity and wine flavour were clearly influenced by the obligatory aeration in the different trials. With the enzyme treatment an alcohol reduction of 2%vol. was achieved after 30h of aeration. However the enzyme treated wines were significantly more acidic and less typical.
Keywords: Alcohol reduction; Catalase; Ethanol (CID 702); Ethyl phenylacetate (CID 7590); Gluconic acid; Gluconic acid (CID 10690); Glucose oxidase; H(2)O(2) (CID 784); Malic acid (CID 525); Sulphur dioxide (CID 1119); Tartaric acid (CID 875); Wine.
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