Membrane dialysis for partial dealcoholization of wine. Comparison between white and red wines

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Membrane dialysis is a suitable technique for the partial dealcoholization of wines that preserves most of the aromas of the original wine. In this study this technique has been used to compare white and red wines of the same vintage. The results of partial dealcoholization have been checked in terms of chemical and sensory properties. In addition, gas chromatography was carried out to determine whether the aromas are appreciably diminished in their final composition for filtered wines. RESULTS: Membrane dialysis resulted in wines with a lower alcoholic strength than the starting one, 11.0 g/kg alcohol reduction was obtained for white wines and 13.4 g/kg for red wines after dialysis, and with acceptable chemical and sensory characteristics but with a lower concentration of some aromatic compounds. CONCLUSION: This partial dealcoholization technique is slightly more effective for the treated red wines. However, the dialyzed red wines are less acceptable by consumers than the corresponding white wines.