Impact of Fungicide Use on Wine Quality

The purpose of this continuing research project was to investigate the use of combinations of sulfur and commercial fungicides to determine, if control of powdery mildew could be achieved with minimum or no sulfur residues remaining on the grapes themselves or in wine produced from those grapes. The judging panel could distinguish all of the white wine lots and two of the red wine lots from the control indicating some “sulfur” problems. These results indicate that late season applications of sulfur dust, in conjunction with the use of a fermenting yeast known to produce larger amounts of hydrogen sulfide, have the potential to produce off aromas in both red and white wines.