Little is known about the ageing of White Port´; but this project aims to change that

SMARTAGEING has come to an end. The project, featuring INESC TEC, aimed to improve the ability to monitor and act on the ageing process of White Port wine, in real time.

Little is known about the impact of the variables that affect the ageing process of White Port. The SMARTAGEING project, with INESC TEC contribution, aimed to address this issue and find potential solutions.

The goal was to increase the predictability of the ageing process of White Port wine, and to develop tools to improve the ability to monitor the evolution and quality of this product, in real time.

The project ended in June this year and proposed a solution based on sensors capable of collecting vital parameters to the ageing process (turbidity, colour, pH, dissolved O2) – alongside a detailed chemical and sensory analysis of the wine. This is crucial to acquire technical-scientific knowledge about the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic variables that affect the ageing process of White Port. Furthermore, the solution includes an actuator element on dissolved oxygen and temperature, which are determining parameters in the wine ageing process. The technology developed can even be applied to any wine production sector – with the adequate adjustments.

Behind this project are two business promoters (WATGRID and Vallegre), the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) and INESC TEC.

The SMARTAGEING technology focused on a monitoring system of the ageing process of White Port wine (associated with an action component) to support the decision-making during production”, explained Tatiana Pinho, researcher at INESC TEC Centre for Industrial Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS).

In the best-case scenario, SMARTAGEING can contribute to optimise the production process of White Port wine and to develop a new sensing system to support the decision-making process, based on predictive models of the ageing process.

“In addition to being heavily involved in the establishment of the consortium – namely ensuring that it was complete – in terms of execution, INESC TEC was mostly involved in the activities of communication and dissemination of results,” explained Tatiana Pinho. The researcher also emphasises the “close relationship between the UTAD team and the INESC TEC campus at that University. “In fact, some researchers involved in the SMARTAGEING, assigned to the UTAD team, are also researchers at INESC TEC; hence, there is a synergistic relationship between these two entities”, she added.