The wine technologist

The wine technologist (Dr Jose Luis Aleixandre-Tudo) joined the Oenology Research Group (Department of Viticulture and Oenology) as a post doctoral fellow in July 2013

under the supervision of Prof Wessel du Toit. He was initially involved in a project related to chemometric analysis of phenolic compounds in South African red wines, sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and Winetech. His research was focussed on the development of calibrations to predict tannin, anthocyanin and total phenols levels in red wines. To achieve his goals he mastered the sciences of spectroscopy and multivariate analyses. He was then subsequently awarded a post doctoral fellowship by the Valencian Regional Government in Spain, which enabled him to spend further time at the same research group at Stellenbosch University. He is currently researcher at the Institute of Grape and Wine Science (IGWS) at the DVO.

In collaboration with Du Toit and Dr Helene Nieuwoudt, of the Institute of Wine Biotech nology

(IWBT), a prolific research collaboration on the topic of phenolic analyses in grapes and wine,

using spectroscopy, has been established. A number of relevant applications have been developed

for the quantification and monitoring of phenolic composition during the winemaking process in

a cost-effective and easy to operate manner. A semi-industrial on-line infrared system for the

measurement of phenolic compounds in grapes and a numberof spectroscopy calibrations for

phenolic extraction monitoring during the fermentation process, are some of his most important

contributions to the field.

The training received and the knowledge gained during his postdoctoral fellowship were

also applied to successfully investigate the effect of several winemaking practices on the phenolic

composition and evolution during wine aging through advanced multi variate data treatment of

chemical and spectroscopy data.  Finally, his research direction is now moving towards process control and monitoring of the winemaking process through multivariate data analysis and batch pro cessing conditions. His final goal is to provide the South African wine industry with advanced spectroscopy based analytical technologies to increase its competitiveness within the international wine market.