In wines

Only very recently have the government and other health agencies bowed to the preponderance of clinical, experimental, epidemiological, and historical evidence that moderate consumption of wine is not only not detrimental, but is beneficial. The proven benefit is in lowered incidence of cardiovascular complications in wine consumers. This apparently accounts for the relative health in this regard of people in Erance, Italy, and other Mediterranean countries even though their diet is otherwise less healthful (more fat particularly). 

In addition to alcohoHc fermentation, a malolactic fermentation by certain desirable strains of lactic acid bacteria needs to be considered. Occasionally, wild strains produce off-flavors. Malolactic fermentation is desirable in many red table wines for increased stabiUty, more complex flavor, and sometimes for decreased acidity. Selected strains are often added toward the end of alcohoHc fermentation. AH the malic acid present is converted into lactic acid, with the resultant decrease of acidity and Hberation of carbon dioxide. Obviously this has more effect on the acidity the more malic acid is present, and this is the case in wine from underripe, too-tart grapes. Once malolactic fermentation has occurred, it does not recur unless another susceptible wine is blended. 

Incipient hazes may not be removed at all by simple filtration. An array of fining procedures have been developed to achieve stable clarity in such cases. Fining agents ate substances that ate or become insoluble in wines, and, as they precipitate, adsorb or coptecipitation incipient sources of cloudiness. Ptopedy used, the fining agents themselves ate not retained in the wines and thein effect is subtractive rather than additive. 

One class of flavorings, known as tme fmit, is composed of fmit juices, their concentrates, and their essences. A second group, fmit flavor with other natural flavors (WONF), contains fmit concentrates or extracts that may be fortified with natural essential oils or extractives (isolates), or other naturally occurring plants (64,65). This class of flavor is employed when the manufacturer is compelled by regulation to use only natural products, as in wines and cordials in the United States. 

Jiroma. The fragrance or odor of food, perceived by the nose by sniffing. In wines, the aroma refers to odors derived from the variety of grape, eg, muscat aroma. It is the overall odor impression as perceived by the nasal cavity. 

Wine Making. Wine making is one of the principal areas of tartaric acid use. There is a relationship between the size of the grape crop and its tartaric acid content when grapes are pressed. In poor harvest years, the tartaric acid content is low in good harvest years, the tartaric acid content is high. Thus, in poor harvest years, tartaric acid often is added to correct acid deficiencies in wine. 

Mutation. For industrial appHcations, mutations are induced by x-rays, uv irradiation or chemicals (iiitrosoguanidine, EMS, MMS, etc). Mutant selections based on amino acid or nucleotide base analogue resistance or treatment with Nystatin or 2-deoxyglucose to select auxotrophs or temperature-sensitive mutations are easily carried out. Examples of useful mutants are strains of Candida membranefaciens, which produce L-threonine Hansenu/a anomala, which produces tryptophan or strains of Candida lipolytica that produce citric acid. An auxotrophic mutant of S. cerevisiae that requires leucine for growth has been produced for use in wine fermentations (see also Wine). This yeast produces only minimal quantities of isoamyl alcohol, a fusel oil fraction derived from leucine by the Ehrlich reaction (10,11). A mutant strain of bakers yeast with cold-sensitive metaboHsm shows increased stabiUty and has been marketed in Japan for use in doughs stored in the refrigerator (12). 

Citric acid and its salts are used in dry beverage mixes, convenience teas, and cocktail mixes for pH control and flavor, and are used in wine coolers at 0.10—0.55%, combining well with fmity and light flavors. 

Two important pathways for catecholamine metaboHsm are 0-methylation by COMT, which is cytoplasmicaHy localized, and oxidative deamination by the mitochondrial localized enzyme MAO. There are large amounts of MAO in tissues such as the fiver and the heart which are responsible for the removal of most of the circulating monoamine, including some taken in from the diet. Tyramine is found in high concentrations in certain foods such as cheese, and in wine. Normally, this tyramine is deaminated in the fiver. However, if MAO is inhibited, the tyramine may then be converted into octopamine [104-14-37] which may indirecdy cause release of NE from nerve terminals to cause hypertensive crisis. Thus MAO, which is relatively nonspecific, plays an important role in the detoxification of pharmacologically active amines ingested from the diet. 

Essential oils are obtained from fmits and flowers (61,62). Volatile esters of short- and medium-chain carboxyHc acids or aromatic carboxyHc acids with short- and medium-chain alcohols are primary constituents of essential oils, eg, ethyl acetate in wines, brandy, and in fmits such as pineapple ben2yl acetate in jasmine and gardenia methyl saHcylate in oils of wintergreen and sweet birch. Most of these naturally occurring esters in essential oils have pleasant odors, and either they or their synthetic counterparts are used in the confectionery, beverage, perfume, cosmetic, and soap industries (see Oils, essential). 

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