Preliminary Evaluation of Variations in Composition Induced by Esca on cv. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Grapes and Wines

The present study examined the effect on quality caused by esca in both grape clusters and wines. In the last year (2000) of an eight-year survey of esca foliar symptoms, the vines of two cv. Trebbiano d’Abruzzo vineyards fell at the moment of grape clusters sampling, into 3 groups: 1. vines with esca symptoms; 2. vines that happened to be asymptomatic but that were known to be diseased because they had show leaf symptoms in at least one other survey year and 3. healthy vines. In a third vineyard, in the same growing area, grape clusters were sampled from vines with trunk renewal that had been restored and from unrenewed vines that had never shown esca leaf symptoms and were consequently presumed to be healthy. Preliminary results on grape clusters in the first two vineyards showed differences in composition between symptomatic vines on the one hand, and asymptomatic/diseased vines and healthy vines on the other, with symptomatic vines having lower levels of reducing sugars and a higher nitrogen concentration. As a result the alcohol content of wines from symptomatic vines was about 1% v:v lower than that of wines from the other two groups of vines. Grape clusters and wines from diseased/asymptomatic vines and healthy vines did not differ in the compositional parameters used in the test except for total polyphenols which gave contrasting data among the first two vineyards. In grape clusters and wines from the third vineyard the preliminary results likewise revealed no difference between vines with trunk renewal and unrenewed healthy vines. This finding would seem to corroborate the practice of trunk renewal as a means of restoring both vines and the quality of grape clusters. Research is continuing to evaluate the reliability of these results

Qualitative Attributes of Commercial Pig Meat from an Italian Native Breed: The Nero d'Abruzzo

The main objective of this study was to characterize the main qualitative properties of commercial meat obtained from the Nero d'Abruzzo pig, a native breed of Central Italy. In order to valorize this animal production, a direct comparison was made with commercial meat products obtained from hybrid pigs. Over a period of 30 days, 76 steaks for each breed were purchased from the market, and samples were analyzed for total lipid content, fatty acids profile, Coenzyme Q10 content, resistance of meat to oxidative processes, volatile profile of cooked meat and electrophoretic profile of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins. Results showed the Nero d'Abruzzo to be richer in fat, which, however, is characterized by a higher concentration of alpha-linolenic acid, to which are attributed important health benefits. The native breed was also richer in Coenzyme Q10, a compound credited with antioxidant potential, whose presence could explain the better oxidative stability of meat samples that were cooked and stored for up to 7 days at +4 degrees C. In support of this last data, our finding of the characterization of the volatile profile of cooked meat, at the end of the storage period, showed in Nero d'Abruzzo a reduction in the accumulation of hexanal, notoriously associated with oxidative events and the development of unpleasant aromatic notes. In conclusion, aspects that can justify the nutritional superiority of this niche production compared to meat coming from cosmopolitan breeds have been identified

Classification of "Montepulciano d'Abruzzo" wine by linear discriminant analysis and artificial neural networks applied to analytical data

The data relative to the chemical composition of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines were elaborated by an Artificial Neural Networks -ANN- analysis procedure. The same data were also elaborated by a multivariate analysis procedure (Linear Discriminant Analysis -LDA-). These procedures were used in an attempt to classify/characterize the wines. The data came from the chemical analysis of 116 wine samples produced during two years in three zones of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo hypothesized to be different pedoclimatically. Classification of the samples according to the year of production only, as well as according to the pedoclimatic zone only, was attempted. The results show that the analysis allows information to be obtained which is particularly useful for characterizing the wines according to the year of production