Polyphenols from grapes are responsible for the color and taste of red wines. They also provide unique nutritional and health benefits to humans when consumed in moderation. Amongst these compounds, tannins are particularly important for the taste and the stability of red wines. The proposed project will provide new tools that will allow rapid and objective measurements of tannin quality, enhancing innovativeness and competitiveness.

In order to remain innovative and competitive, the wine industry should provide red wines that are both rich in color and polyphenols. However, it is also important that a red wine contain sensory properties that will be desired by the consumer.

This project will contribute to accelerating the pace of innovation by allowing fast spectrophotometric measurement of tannin quality in grapes and wines.

This project is innovative and different from current and previous research performed by the organization or sector as it will create a new chemical assay that should be quicker and easier to perform. It will also investigate the phenolic quality of grapes from different vine clones, soils, and climates. This should provide new data to help the industry choose the right clone for a specific area. It will also investigate the ageing ability of commercial red wines by using new and existing methods of measurement.