Innovative Drying Technology for the Production of Appassimento Wine

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Recently, Atlantic Canada and in particular Nova Scotia, has been recognized as a new wine producing region for its unique climate conditions. Nova Scotia is a prime location for the production of premium-quality wines. However, the short growing season implies significant risk for grape producers to reach appropriate sugar content. This risk could be mitigated by introducing appassimento wine-making technology. Appassimento is an old traditional practice in Northern Italy of postharvest drying in order to concentrate sugars and flavor. Appassimento wine-making technology could be particularly beneficial for Atlantic Canada to maintain consistency of wine due to controlled postharvest drying of grapes, especially if the weather was not favorable for full ripening in the field. Our industrial partner Luckett Vineyards has been exploring the benefits of this technique since 2010, using a small-scale thermal drying chamber. Commercial success of appassimento wines encouraged the company to increase appassimento wine production. Luckett's problem is that currently used thermal drying is not cost efficient and negatively affects grape quality. Since drying is the most critical step in the production of appassimento wine, Luckett has expressed interest in the development of new drying technology. This is the first time partnership between Luckett Vineyards and Dr. Alex Martynenko (Dalhousie University), who has significant expertise in drying technologies. The goal of this project is to test novel electrohydrodynamic (EHD) technology for non-thermal grape drying. Previous experiments showed that EHD technology is cost efficient and suitable for fruit drying, but it has never been studied for drying of grapes. In this 6-month project we are going to study the effects of EHD on the grape quality and drying efficiency. The knowledge gained in this project will be used for the further development of EHD drying. It is expected that commercial application of EHD drying will allow Luckett to gain competitive edge in the production of cold-climate appassimento wines for domestic and international markets.