Development of an in vitro model to simulate the gastrointestinal digestion and absorption of stabilizing agents

Each step in the winemaking process must be carefully planned and controlled to optimize the quality of wine. Among others, tartaric stabilization is a critical step in enology, and although effective, the usual practices to solve it show some qualitative limitations, and important economical and environmental impacts. For the reasons reported above, the wine producers are searching for alternative practices, with particular interest in the area of organic products. Biopolymers are possible alternatives in this field. The selection, the characterization and the safety aspects of new biopolymers are the objectives of the European project STABIWINE (Use of biopolymers for sustainable stabilization of quality wines). The first group of biopolymers analyzed includes polyaminoacids and, in particular, polymers of L-aspartic acid (PAA), which can be used as enological additives for tartaric stabilization. In order to contribute in drafting the toxicological dossier, the metabolic fate of PAAs has been assessed by in vitro models, mimicking gastrointestinal digestion and absorption.