Invited oral presentation at 254th ACS National Conference

Abstract

The 254th ACS National Meeting & Exposition was held in Washington, DC from 20 to 24 August, 2017. Attracting thousands of attendees from many countries, the theme of the meeting was ’Chemistry’s impact on the global economy’. The meeting encompassed a wide range of symposia related to chemistry, with the most relevant topics with respect to grape and wine science being supported by the Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Presentations were attended in the following symposia:

• From fermentation to fume hood: The chemistry of wine

• Advances in flavor analysis

• Advancing analytical methods in food forensics & authentication

  The travel grant enabled David Jeffery to attend and deliver an invited oral presentation in the symposium entitled ‘Fermentation to fume hood: The chemistry of wine’, organised by Drs Dimitra Capone (AWRI) and Gavin Sacks (Cornell University). An overview of a Wine Australia-funded PhD project on volatile composition and sensory properties of Australian rosé wines was shared as the opening talk of the symposia with an audience of attendees from Australia, Italy, Germany, France and the US. A wide variety of presentations was attended over the course of four days, which enabled networking with other attendees.

Summary

David Jeffery, Associate Professor in Wine Science at the University of Adelaide, travelled to Washington, DC to deliver an invited oral presentation in the symposia ‘Fermentation to fume hood: The chemistry of wine’ at the 254th ACS National Meeting & Exposition. David presented on ‘Characterising the chemical and sensory properties of Australian rosé wines’, which was an overview of research from a PhD project funded by Wine Australia on Australian rosé wines that has appeared in three peer-reviewed publications. David also co-authored on a presentation entitled ‘Quantitation of potent polyfunctional thiols and their enantiomers in wine using HPLC-MS/MS after derivatisation’ given by Dr Dimitra Capone from the Australian Wine Research Institute. This talk, delivered in the symposia ‘Advances in flavor analysis’, outlined work from a current PhD project funded by Wine Australia and co-supervised by Dimitra. David co-authored two other presentations with University and industry colleagues, and collaborators in the US.

Together, three relevant symposia (Fermentation to fume hood: The chemistry of wine; Advances in flavor analysis; Advancing analytical methods in food forensics & authentication) consisted of 49 oral presentations, and the Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry had over 40 posters covering different aspects of chemistry. Of particular interest were the 21 presentations related to grape and wine research, covering topics such as chemical and sensory properties, analysis of aroma compounds, developments related to polyphenols and macromolecules, and metabolomics and lipidomics of grapes and wines.

Networking with conference attendees was also a valuable aspect of the travel, and provided useful insight into aspects of varietal thiol and precursor analysis, the use of ion exchange resin for tartrate stabilisation, and approaches to the combined analysis of volatile and non-volatile components in grapes and wines. The potential for collaboration exists with Prof Felipe Laurie from University of Talca, and further discussions are planned with regard to student exchanges and applying for project funding. Additionally, cooperation was strengthened with Dr Mark Kelm, research Director and Manager at Constellation Brands, with respect to analysis of varietal thiols, and the potential for joint PhD projects will be further explored.