The Sensors and Biosensors Group of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has developed aelectronic language to identify different types of cava. The device makes it possible to obtain in an automated way a classification similar to that carried out by asommelierand it can be useful for the detection of defects during the elaboration of these wines.
The different types of cava vary in theamount of sugar that is added with the expedition liquorafter the second fermentation, that is, the one that gives off carbon dioxide. The resulting classification is: Brut Nature (50 g / L).
To design the electronic language for cavas, Manel del Valle and his team have carried out the identification of different cava samples based on voltammetric measurements. Thanks to the combination of chemical measurement systems and advanced mathematical processing tools they have achievedmimic the human taste systemand carry out a task of distinguishing between the different kinds of cava. They have also managed to quantify the added sugar in the cava production process, which shows the potential of these processing tools. At the moment, the language can currently identify three types of cava: Brut, Brut Nature and Semi Seco, butwith proper training you can distinguish all types of cava on the market.
Electronic languages are bio-inspired sensor systems that attempt to mimic the sense of human perception. In these devices, an array of sensors (with a differentiated, broad and complementary response) is used to obtain chemical information from a sample. As in the biological mechanism, a learning or training process of electronic language is required for it to be able to recognize the properties to be identified.
