Teng-Zhen Ma

By Ma Tengzhen and Han Shunyu

China has a long history of grape cultivation and wine making, and it has grown to be one of the most important countries in terms of grape cultivation, wine production, and wine consumption. According to meteorological and geographical regionalization, China’s wine production area has been divided into 11 regions, the majority of which are located in cold and mid-temperate regions in northern China, where vines must be buried in winter and unearthed in spring. In China, the main cultivated grape varieties are similar, with the red variety accounting for more than 80% of the total, while the white variety represents just 20%. Currently, Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted variety, but Marselan, another red variety, have recently shown good prospects. Wild grape species such as Vitis amurensis, Vitis davidii, and Vitis quinquangularis are widely planted in northern and southern China because of their good resistance to local climate. This chapter highlights some common wild grape varieties in China, as well as the wines made from them. Also, some winemaking pretreatment techniques are reported.

Part of the book: Grapes and Wine

By Teng-Zhen Ma, Faisal Eudes Sam and Bo Zhang

Nonalcoholic wine (NW) has attracted the interest of winemakers and researchers in recent years, mainly due to the increasing market share of NW (≤ 1% alcohol by volume), the health risks associated with the consumption of wine, the global trend toward healthier lifestyles, and the uncompromising cardioprotective effects of NW. NW can be produced using several methods, particularly, dealcoholization of wines, which is mainly achieved by physical dealcoholization methods. However, the dealcoholization of wine has two major drawbacks. The first drawback is legal since the laws vary according to each country. The second disadvantage is technical since it is difficult to dealcoholize a wine while maintaining its original organoleptic characteristics. Both the aromatic qualities (volatile composition) and taste (sensory characteristics) of the dealcoholized wine (DW) tend to worsen the greater the decrease in its alcoholic strength. This makes the resulting wine have a different flavor and aroma. Improvement of the aroma of DW after dealcoholization could help wine producers limit undesirable effects and increase consumer acceptance. This chapter is focused on the popular techniques used in wine dealcoholization, their impact on the phenolic composition, volatile composition, sensory characteristics, and the state-of-the-art methods of improving the aroma profile of DW.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Grapes and Wine Production