Price estimation and economic evaluation of the production cost of red wines produced by immobilized cells on dried raisin berries

ice estimation and economic evaluation of the production cost of red wines produced by immobilized cells on dried raisin berries Original Research (3859) Total Article Views Authors: Argiris Tsakiris, Kiriaki Sotirakoglou, Panagiotis Kandylis, et al Published Date February 2011 Volume 2011:3 Pages 1 - 8 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/IJWR.S16389 Argiris Tsakiris1, Kiriaki Sotirakoglou2, Panagiotis Kandylis3, Panagiotis Kaldis1, Constantina Tzia4, Yiannis Kourkoutas3 1Department of Oenology and Beverage Technology, Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Athens, Greece; 2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece; 3Applied Microbiology and Molecular Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece; 4Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece Abstract: The aim of the study was initially to estimate the price of red wines produced by immobilized cells on dried raisin berries and subsequently to investigate whether the estimated price was sufficient to counterbalance the increased investment and operational costs required for industrial application of the novel biotechnological process. Price estimation of the experimental wines was based on the correlation of sensory quality, determined by a group of trained tasters, and the price of commercial wines available in a certain market. Application of principal component analysis (PCA) provided improved results over simple and exponential regression analysis, as only a part of the relationship between the two variables was represented (68.4% and 75.3%, respectively). However, with PCA the total variance explained by the two components was 100%. Taste was more important than aroma in determining sensory quality, and wine price was mainly affected by sensory quality rather than wine age in the Greek market. The total increase of production cost was estimated to be €0.032/bottle, which is significantly lower than the increase of €2.08/bottle price estimated by PCA for the red wines produced by immobilized cells, due to the improved aromatic potential compared with wines produced by free cells. Hence, profit for the wine industry was estimated to be €1.02/bottle.