Specific Features of Table Wine Production Technology

Humans have been making and consuming wine from the time immemorial. Most of the wines produced in the world are undoubtedly made from grapes and the technique of winemaking has developed by hit and trial until the fundamental of microbiology, biochemistry, food science especially sensory science could be developed and applied. Fruits other than grapes are also used to make wine. This chapter focuses on the specific features of making table wine from non-grape fruits, viz., pome fruits, stone fruits, berries, citrus fruits, and tropical fruits. The pome fruits include apple, pear, quince, cotoneaster, hawthorn, loquat, medlar, Pyracantha, toyon, rowan, and whitebeam while apricots, plums, peaches, and cherries are the major stone fruits. Among the colorful fruits, are the berries such as blackberry (Rubus sp.), black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), strawberry (Fragaria. ananassa), etc. Citrus fruits include orange, lime, lemon, and kinnow, among others, whereas there are hundreds of edible tropical fruits. All these fruits are nutritious, tasty, and flavorful; are very good sources of anthocyanins/carotenoids, minerals like K, Na, Ca, Mg, and Fe, and vitamins, especially vitamin C; are juicy/pulpy in nature; and have appealing color; but their sugar and acid contents vary. In addition, many fruits are good sources of polyphenols that contribute to their antioxidant activities. Being highly perishable, these fruits have to be either consumed immediately or preserved in one or another form, and conversion of such fruits into wine of acceptable quality could save these precious resources from postharvest losses to a greater extent. Consequently, the production of wine from these fruits is receiving a lot of attention these days, with the added advantage that they contain antioxidants, considered useful in preventing cardiovascular diseases.This chapter describes in detail the methods used to produce wines and low-alcoholic beverages from pome fruits, stone fruits, berries, citrus fruits, and tropical fruits. The process of alcoholic fermentation to make wines from these fruits is basically the same as that for grapes, but there are some major differences in the techniques of production of wines from these fruits because of the difficulty in extracting the sugar from the pulp of some of the fruits, and their composition is especially high in acidity, and thus amelioration of the must or blending is needed to make the wine palatable. Biological deacidification in fruits using the yeast like Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been attempted and hold promise in future. In fruit wine production, the selection of good variety; amelioration, especially for sugar content; pectinase enzyme treatment (to increase the yield of juice) and later clarification of wines produced; inclusion of other additives, especially a nitrogen source; and, consequently, ethanol production are very important. Research and development efforts have been made quite extensively in the preparation of apple wine, apple cider, plum wine, apricot wine, strawberry wine, jamun wine, passion fruits wine, peach wine, berries wine and perry and accordingly, some of these products are produced commercially. Because almost all the stone fruits are low in sugar, have high acidity, and are pulpy in nature, to make wine of acceptable quality from these fruits is not easy, and accordingly, modifications are needed. Methods to prepare various berry wines, viz., strawberry, cherry, raspberry, sea buckthorn, and lychee, are well investigated, but wines from fruits like papaya, pumpkin, persimmon, passion fruit, etc., are still being standardized. Citrus wines, which are produced in a specific wine style, may demand unique conditions compared to grapes and other fruits. Specific mention can be made of problems of bitterness in citrus fruits and to overcome the same efforts have been made with encouraging results. These wines undergo different biological and chemical processes that affect their chemical composition and their volatile, phenolic, and sensory properties distinctively. Orange and mandarin winemaking techniques have been well documented and are described in this chapter. Wines from many tropical fruits like mango, banana, pineapple, papaya, guava, custard apple, lychee, watermelon, coconut, sapota, and jamun have also been prepared and evaluated for their acceptability, especially that from mango (Mangifera indica L), as reviewed in this chapter. For mango wine, optimization of the fermentation conditions, production profiles of higher alcohols and other volatile compounds during wine fermentation, total volatile composition, and identification of compounds having fruity aroma characters have been carried out. Similarly, a very interesting line of research is focusing on the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of fruit wines and the components responsible for the same. Extensive research has been reported on various aspects of wine production including the study of the effects on maturation of these wines using wood chips from various trees.Compared to the quantity of grape wine produced and consumed in the world, the quantity of wine produced from nongrape fruits is insignificant, except for cider and perry, which are produced and consumed in significant quantities throughout the world. But research on the preparation of wines from other pome fruits is at the preliminary stage, so it could certainly be a fruitful area of research, especially in those countries and regions where these fruits are cultivated on a commercial scale. Despite the efforts made and described here for the preparation of berry wines, there are a large number of research gaps for more elaboration in future. But by and large, more concerted and in-depth research is required to make the technology for the commercial production of wines from these fruits a successful commercial venture. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved