We participated in the international conference OENO Macrowine 2023 held in Bordeaux, France from July 10 to 13, 2023. We presented the research results in two poster presentations under the titles:

Fermentation potential of indigenous non-Saccharomyces yeasts isolated from Maraština grapes of Croatian vineyards

Profiling of lipids in wines from monoculture fermentation with indigenous Metschnikowia yeast species

https://isvv-events.com/oeno-macrowine2023/

We participated in the 1st European GREEN Conference – EGC 2023, which took place from May 23 to 26 in Vodice, Croatia. We presented the newest results from sequential fermentation experiments performed with isolated non-Saccharomyces yeasts, Pichia kluyveri and Metschnikowia pulcherrima in the poster section:

Boban, A., Milanović, V., Jurun, Z., Mucalo, A., Budić-Leto, I.: Impact of native Pichia kluyveri and Metschnikowia pulcherrima on Maraština wines

GRAPE-PATH3, MYCO GRAPE and WINE AROMAS tim together at EGC-2023. 🙂

The fourth paper was published as part of the HRZZ WINE AROMAS project, and the second with the support of STSM grant funded under COST Action CA 17111 in collaboration with Research and Innovation Center – Fondazione Edmund Mach. The results of the lipid composition in the grape skin of Maraština variety obtained by a metabolic approach using the UHPLC-MS/MS method in Metabolomic Unit under supervison of our collaborator Dr Urska Vrhovsek were presented.

Boban, A.; Masuero, D.; Vrhovsek, U.; Budić-Leto, I.* Comprehensive Lipid Profile of ‘Maraština’ Grape Skins from Dalmatia. Applied Sciences 2023, 13, 6446. (Q2)

The paper is available at the link: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/11/6446

On April 28, 2023, the Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation participated in Science Festival under the common theme “Nature and Society”. The topic of our group’s presentation was “Grape mycobiota and its role in wine production”. PhD student Ana Boban, mag.chem. in a scientific-popular way presented part of the research that is carried out at the Institute as part of the HRZZ project WINE AROMAS. In that way, we pointed out the importance of grape mycobiota in the winemaking closer to primary and secondary school students.

See you next year!

Ana Boban, mag. chem. spent two weeks on training in the field of metabolomics at the Research and Innovation Center – Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy. In the period from February 4 to 18 in 2023, Ana analyzed samples from the project using UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS. Through the analysis, we gained insight into the composition and concentration of lipids and amino acids, which are metabolic products of isolated autochthonous non-Saccharomyces yeasts. The host and mentor at the training was Dr Urska Vrhovsek.

Ana Boban, mag. chem., PhD student at the HRZZ project “Impact of native non-Saccharomyces yeasts on wine aromas- WINE AROMAS” successfully defended the topic of her doctoral dissertation entitled “Impact of indigenous non-Saccharomyces yeasts on the aroma profile of young wine from ‘Maraština’ cv. (Vitis vinifera L.)” on January 16, 2023.

The public defence of the topic of the doctoral dissertation was held at the Faculty of Food and Biotechnology of the University of Zagreb in front of the Committee for Postgraduate Studies and the Committee for the Defense of the Topic composed of:

Prof Karin Kovačević Ganić; Faculty of Food and Biotechnology, Zagreb

Dr Irena Budić-Leto, senior scientist; Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Split

Prof Vlatka Petravić Tominac; Faculty of Food and Biotechnology, Zagreb

Prof Jasenka Gajdoš Kljusurić; Faculty of Food and Biotechnology, Zagreb

Dr Vesna Milanović, research associate; Universita Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy

and under mentorship: Dr Irena Budić-Leto, senior scientist; Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Split.

Scientific paper is publish in the journal Metabolites on the topic of targeted and non-targeted profiling of metabolites of Maraština wine produced by spontaneous fermentation from different growing areas of Dalmatia.

Boban, A.; Vrhovsek, U.; Carlin, S.; Mucalo, A.; Budić-Leto, I. A Targeted and an Untargeted Metabolomics Approach to the Volatile Aroma Profile of Young ‘Maraština’ Wines. Metabolites 2022, 12, 1295. (IF=5.581, Q2).

The work is available at the link: https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12121295

We participated in the jubilee 10th International Congress of Food Technologists, Biotechnologists and Nutritionists, which was held in Zagreb from November 29 to December 2, 2022. We presented part of the results from the WINE AROMAS project in two poster sections.

Innovation section:

V. Milanović, F. Cardinali, A. Boban, J. Gajdoš Kljusurić, A. Mucalo, A. Osimani, L. Aquilanti, C. Garofalo and I. Budić-Leto

Oenological characterization of non-Saccharomyces yeasts isolated from Croatian white grape variety Maraština

Section Nutrition, Health and Consumer:

A. Boban, U. Vrhovsek, S. Carlin, A. Mucalo and I. Budić-Leto

A targeted and untargeted approach to volatile metabolite characterization of “Maraština” wines produced by spontaneous fermentation

Posters are available at the link: https://pbn2022congress.pbf.hr/?page_id=668

On October 5, 2022, two more diploma theses were defended at the Polytechnic University of Marche, Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Ancona, Italy as part of the research on the WINE AROMAS project under the mentorship of Dr Vesna Milanović.

The diploma thesis entitled Clonal selection of non-Saccharomyces yeast isolated from Maraština grapes located in wine growing region of Northern Dalmatia (Croatia) was defended by student Eduardo Corvatta. Student Tommaso Cechini defended his diploma thesis entitled Oenological characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains obtained from Maraština grapes located in wine-growing region of Central and Southern Dalmatia (Croatia).

On September 30, 2022, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., in Marmontova Street in Split, we participated in the project named: Reconnect Science with the blue society (Blue-connect) as part of the HORIZON MSCA Researchers’ Night with the theme “The role of yeast in wine production“. We presented the project with a powerpoint presentation and brought different species of autochthonous yeasts from the Maraština variety that we developed on solid nutrient media. We presented the experiment of alcoholic fermentation of sugar to the general public in an interesting way, and with simple physicochemical methods, we approached the measurements that we perform on must and wine in the Enological Laboratory.