ŒNOPHILINO: a digital sommelier certifying wine quality

Within the activities of METROFOOD-IT, a research project from La Sapienza University has been presented aiming at developing a device capable of analyzing the quality characteristics of wine, such as the presence of polyphenols.

A digital sommelier capable of ensuring the analysis of a popular food like wine, providing important information regarding food quality. This is the objective of the ŒNOPHILINO project, which was presented during the "ShareScience" workshop held on February 15th and 16th, 2024, at the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of the University of Rome La Sapienza. The event served as an opportunity for the presentation of various projects and lines of scientific research in the field of technology transfer. The main focus of the workshop was indeed multidisciplinary research and its impact on technology transfer, thus allowing the connection between basic research areas and those more oriented towards practical applications.

The Research Project

In particular, during the event, the group composed of professors Giovanni Organtini and Cesare Manetti together with PhD student Gabriele Lombardi presented the interdisciplinary project titled "ŒNOPHILINO: the digital sommelier". It is an initiative resulting from the collaboration between the Departments of Physics and Environmental Biology of La Sapienza, within the context of the activities for the realization of the research infrastructure METROFOOD-IT, which aims to support innovation in the agri-food sector by accelerating the digitalization of agri-food systems, traceability, and sustainability, promoting the reliability of products and processes, and the information provided to citizens, local authorities, and all stakeholders of agri-food systems.

Objectives of ŒNOPHILINO

The ultimate goal of the ŒNOPHILINO project is to develop a compact, cost-effective, and user-friendly device suitable for use by a wide range of actors in the agri-food sector and by the end consumer. This device will be able to certify some quality characteristics of wine through the analysis of the reflection spectra of light in the UV-Vis range of the beverage. Although designed for wine analysis, the device can also be extended to other foods and will be based on Arduino technology. Another goal is to promote a culture of measurement among consumers and producers.

Currently, the group is refining the device to allow for accurate analysis of polyphenol content in wine, given the growing interest from more discerning consumers in these compounds. Polyphenols are associated with benefits such as antioxidant activity and enable the prediction of the product's aging potential and how it will evolve during storage. In the future, considering the flexibility of UV-Vis spectroscopic methodology, the research team will explore the feasibility of expanding the device's application to other analyses, both maintaining the focus on wine and concentrating on other agri-food products.