Chemical and Sensory Profiling of Chilean Pinot Noir wines: A Comparative Study of Traditional and Emerging Cool-Climate Regions
Alvaro Peña-Neira
Cristina Ubeda-Aguilera
Mariona Gil i Cortiella
Karinna Estay
Claudio Pastenes
Marco Garrido
After gaining independence from Spain, the Chilean government hired French naturalist Claude Gay in 1830, who proposed the establishment of the Quinta Normal de Agricultura, an experimental nursery for a wide range of exotic botanical specimens, including European vines. This initiative, launched in 1842, led to the collection of vinifera cuttings, including Pinot Noir from Burgundy, which were safely stored in viticultural isolation before the arrival of the vineyard pests that ravaged global wine regions in the late 19th century, such as powdery mildew and phylloxera. This early collection became the foundation of Chile's modern wine industry, eventually replacing many of the traditional Spanish varieties, such as País (syn. Listán Prieto) and Muscat of Alexandria, which had been widely planted up until that time. Today, Pinot Noir is grown on 3,937 hectares of vineyards in Chile, representing 7.3% of the country's total vineyard area dedicated to wine production.
As Pinot Noir is a variety of great plasticity, it has been planted in the central valley of Chile characterized by a warm-temperate climate viticulture, currently the largest area is in the areas with coastal influence that develop cool climate viticulture (Limarí, Casablanca and Leyda Valleys), given the influence of the cold Humboldt current present on the coasts of the South Pacific Ocean.
Due to climate change, new areas in the south of the country are beginning to produce wines from Pinot Noir (South and Austral zones). That is why the objective of this work was to chemically and sensorially characterize the wines of traditional and emerging cool zones of Chile. Analysis of phenolic composition (tannins responsible for body, astringency and bitterness; anthocyanins responsible for pink-red-violet coloration), color parameters, aromatic profile and polysaccharide profile were performed with spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques. A sensory typing of the commercial wines analyzed was also carried out. The Chilean Pinot Noir wines studied present parameters like those of other cold areas of the world, with some differences observed in emerging areas, especially the Austral Zone, probably due to the colder climatic conditions present in that region.
Acknowledgement. This work was supported by ANID-CHILE, Project FONDECYT 1231751 (2023-2025): Viticulture and climate change adaptation in southern Chile: site-typicity in cv. Pinot Noir grape berries and wines using metabolic profiling and sensory analysis.
Álvaro Peña-Neira (1970), is the third generation of his family from the Chilean city of Viña del Mar. He studied agronomy engineering at the Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile) and got a PhD in Food Science and Technology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain) and the Fermentation Industrial Institute from the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IFI-CSIC). In 1999, he moved to the Department of Agroindustry and Enology at Universidad de Chile (the main public university of the country), where he is a Full Professor. His research program has investigated various aspects of phenolic compounds, including viticulture practices, grape maturation, vinification, sensory characteristics, and wine aging. He teaches at master level courses on phenolics and grape physiology in Chile (Universidad de Chile) and Argentina (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo-Mendoza). In addition to his research and teaching, Professor Peña-Neira has chaired numerous national and international symposia, is a member of the scientific committee of the In Vino Analytica Scientia (IVAS) conference and participates in such professional organizations as the National Association of Agricultural Engineers and Winemakers of Chile. In 2017 he received the Chilean Wine Merit Award from this National Association.
At the Faculty of Agronomical Sciences, he is the leader of the research group in enology and viticulture, and he has served as Chair of the Department of Agroindustry and Enology, Director of Research, Vice-Dean, and in other roles.