No abstract

BACKGROUND: Oak extractive substances modify the aroma and taste of 'oaked' wines, with an increased intensity of sensory descriptors such as 'oaky', 'spicy', 'vanilla', 'smoky', etc. arising during barrel maturation. In this study the relationship between the chemical composition of untoasted oak wood and the sensory assessment of oak extract was investigated. Oak wood samples (140) were analysed both chemically (using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry after extraction with dichloromethane) and using sensory descriptive analysis of oak-extracted model wine solutions.

One of the economy key sectors of Republic of Moldova and Romania is the wine sector, where a progressive trend has prevailed in recent years. But to increase its efficiency it is necessary to use the raw material in a complex way, producing both famous wines and other necessary products, as well as to comply with the rigors of ecological standards. The issue of wine by-products draws the attention and interest of researchers, regulators, industry and consumers and has urged the European Community to a zero waste economy by 2025. The article deals with the chemical composition of the main parts of grapes which depend on a number of factors, such as variety, climatic conditions of the year, vine and wine making practices, condition of the grapes, their maturity, etc. There have been presented physico-chemical characteristics of the wastes obtained from the grapes processing such as: bunches, grape pomaces, piquette and diffusion juice, seeds, wine yeast, tirighia and vinasse. Thus, by making use of wine wastes, a number of valuable products can be obtained that can be used for different purposes.

The wine industry has been and remains a source of natural- tartaric acid. The tartaric acid can be obtained from such wastes as grape marcs, yeast, vinasse and wine stone. But the use of these wastes was limited in the Republic of Moldova by the production of tartaric acid lime (calcium tartrate) and wine stone, which were shipped to Ukraine and Armenia where the finished product is obtained. Currently, tartaric acid is used in considerable quantities in the winemaking and food industry, being a quite expensive imported product. The Department of Oenology and Chemistry has developed a complete technological scheme for the use of wine wastes to obtain the finished product – tartaric acid. The realization of the proposed tartaric acid production in the Republic of Moldova is important for the country’s economy and it does not require large investments. Wineries can also help to organize tartaric acid production by providing calcium tartrate, wine stone, pressed or dried yeast, and other ingredients.

The article examines the geographical area delimited for the production of the Divine and the specific characteristics and physical-geographical conditions of the Călărași vineyard through the prism of different methods of distillation and production of wine distillates. Technological regimes for distilling wine raw materials and organoleptic and physico-chemical indices such as: alcohol content, optical density, pH, aldehyde content, higher alcohol content and volatile acid content are scientifically argued. The quality indicators were determined for both wines and distillates obtained at the 'Charente' batch plant and the 'VAND-M-0' plant. The impact of the distillation method on the quality and production process of the wine distillate is evaluated.