Davis, Calif., May 18, 2023… The American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) is pleased to announce Dr. Vicente Ferreira from Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain, will be presenting this year’s Honorary Research Lecture, “What We Know About the Chemical Bases of Wine Aroma Perception” at the 74^th ASEV National Conference in Napa, California, on June 28. ASEV honors a research lecturer who is actively involved in scientific research and has a current national or international reputation in their field of research.  

Dr. Ferreira is professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Zaragoza and head of the Laboratory of Aroma Analysis and Enology (LAAE). He specializes in chemical analysis of the molecules responsible for the different perceptions related to odor, flavor and taste, and in the integration of the chemical information to interpret sensory perception. This knowledge has been primarily applied to wine flavor, a field in which LAAE leads globally.

He has contributed to the fields of analytical chemistry, enological chemistry and flavor science. Within analytical chemistry, Dr. Ferreira is an expert in instrumental chromatographic techniques, particularly in gas chromatography, making significant contributions to different aspects of extraction (L-L microextraction and solid-phase extraction -SPE), enrichment, derivatization and calibration techniques for building analytical gas chromatography methods. He is currently working on a comprehensive analytical quantification to provide relevant information to explain flavor perception.

Within enological chemistry, Dr. Ferreira has made three significant contributions to the understanding of the formation and evolution along the winemaking process. His first contribution is, identifying the nature and dynamics of varietal aroma and its intercrosses with fermentative aroma, with yeast nitrogen metabolism and with aging. Second is unveiling the fate of acetaldehyde, Strecker aldehydes and polyfunctional mercaptans, highlighting their relationship with wine oxidation, sulfur dioxide and the grape amino acid and polyphenolic profiles. Third is the analysis, fate and remediation of hydrogen sulfide and volatile mercaptans and their corresponding precursors, responsible for the development of sulfury off-odors during wine bottle storage. The first two are key contributors to the oxidative deterioration of wine aroma and the latter to wine freshness. Altogether, his contributions are essential to understanding the chemical base of wine aroma and flavor, to control the technological processes in which they are formed and to optimize quality and wine longevity.

His contribution within flavor science is the development of sensory-directed screening techniques, such as gas-chromatography olfactometry or HPLC-fractionation techniques and the understanding of the perceptual interactions between odors, which makes it possible to relate the contents in individual odorants with the overall aroma perceptions. This knowledge is being used to build models for predicting aroma and flavor perception from the chemical composition, which should open a gate to bridge analytics with neurosciences.

Dr. Ferreira is the author of more than 250 articles, has served as a chairman of the Macrowine International Congress in 2018 and is a renowned invited speaker in international scientific meetings.

Founded in 1950 by a group of researchers and winemakers, ASEV is dedicated to the interests of enologists, viticulturists and others in the fields of wine and grape research and production throughout the world. The ASEV National Conference is a forum for sharing and disseminating the latest scientific information relevant to winemaking and grapegrowing. The 74^th ASEV National Conference will be held June 26-29, 2023, in Napa, Calif.  Registration and housing for the conference is now open and early registration ends on June 20.  For more information about the conference, visit www.asev.org.