New device may help make wine aromas perfect

Tokyo: Scientists have developed a new device that can help wineries achieve the perfect smelling wine, by monitoring a make-or-break ingredient that is responsible for the fragrance of the beverage.

Acetaldehyde is frequently found in a lot of places and foods, such as fruits, vegetables and human saliva. When present in high amounts in wine, it produces an unpleasant odour and affects the fermentation process, researchers said.

Therefore, it is important for winemakers to monitor the acetaldehyde levels, which can vary with temperature, pH and oxygen concentrations, they said.

Current methods involve trained experts, long processing times and complex equipment. Researchers have proposes a sensitive, versatile detector that is more selective than its predecessors.

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan tested for acetaldehyde in nine different wines, both red and white.

The new detector produced results comparable to those obtained with traditional methods, but was simpler to operate and produced real-time results.

The device could provide wineries with a more practical method for monitoring this make-or-break ingredient, researchers said.