Application of pervaporation and nanofiltration membrane processes for the elaboration of full flavored low alcohol white wines

Abstract In the present work, the performance of a combination of pervaporation (PV) and nanofiltration (NF) at pilot plant scale has been studied for the elaboration of a full flavored low alcohol content white wine. Firstly a two-stage NF process for sugar reduction of must has been tested. Afterwards, we used PV for recovery of aroma precursors from grape must followed by two-stage NF and restitution of the flavor precursors. Duplicated fermentations were performed from the control must and filtered must blends. Aromatic profile revealed that the mixture of musts from the PV plus NF process, had an aroma content more similar to the original must. Sensorial analysis of the wines elaborated showed that consumers found wines coming from PV more similar to control samples. Among the membrane processes assessed here, the combination of PV and the two-stage NF presented the best results.