Physicochemical and Nutritional Characterization of Winemaking Lees: A New Food Ingredient

Wine lees are defined as the sediment formed at the bottom of the tank or barrel after wine alcoholic fermentation. They have a heterogeneous composition and currently constitute 6% of the byproducts generated by each ton of wine grapes. However, it is the most under-researched of all the byproducts of the winemaking process. Therefore, with the aim of highlighting this byproduct, a physicochemical and nutritional characterization of winemaking lees from three different wine making processes (white, rosé, and red winemaking) was carried out. In addition, the technological properties of these winemaking lees were also analyzed. The lees analyzed in this research demonstrated an interesting nutritional and heterogeneous composition. Moreover, wine lees showed high values of emulsifying capacity. Thus, winemaking lees could be considered, in a preliminary way, as a new ingredient to be included in new food formulations.