New SPMESH-DART Tech Speeds Up Wine Quality Testing

By Blake Jackson

Every harvest season, E&J Gallo Winery in Modesto, California, gathers up to 300 grape samples daily to ensure its wines are free of harmful toxins and undesirable flavors such as grass, mushrooms, or wildfire smoke. Despite continuous testing operations, the process has long been a bottleneck, said Nick Dokoozlian, Gallo’s vice president of viticulture, chemistry, and enology.

After a decade of collaboration, Cornell University’s Gavin Sacks, professor of food science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has introduced a groundbreaking solution.

Sacks team developed a high-throughput analytical platform called SPMESH-DART, which reduces testing time from 30-40 minutes per sample to just 3-4 minutes. The system was deployed at Gallo’s Modesto facility in October.

“We were really struggling. We knew what we needed, but we had no solution in mind, nor did we even really have a vision for how we get there,” Dokoozlian said. “The fundamental work that it took for Gavin to envision and develop the application of SPMESH-DART is not something that we in industry could do, and no university in the United States is better qualified to do this kind of work for the grape and wine industry than Cornell.”

The new platform simplifies Gallo’s testing process and allows employees to focus on more strategic tasks. “As we begin to use the platform on a large scale, we’re very excited about the future,” Dokoozlian added.

Sacks explained that his team had to detect compounds at extremely low concentrations amid significant “chemical noise.” They improved the process using a laser-etched polymer sheet that absorbs volatile compounds from 24 samples at once, which are then measured using standard methods. The team worked with German company Bruker to integrate the technology into Gallo’s existing systems.

“The bottom line is that Gallo is using the methodologies that he’s developed, and this particular platform is going to be commercialized so that other wineries, food companies, even folks in other industries will be able to use it in the future,” Dokoozlian said.

Sacks noted that the long-standing partnership benefits both Cornell researchers and students, providing real-world challenges and industry experience. “That’s where our journey at Cornell started,” Dokoozlian said, “with recruiting the best and brightest talent.”

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