Elea Tests Electric Pulses in Wineries

Elea Technology said on Thursday that it had completed one of the largest mobile industrial trial campaigns yet carried out in the wine sector for Pulsed Electric Fields, or PEF, a process that uses short electrical pulses to alter grape cell structures and improve extraction. The company said the 2025 project, called the PEF Wine Tour, involved nine wineries in Italy and Spain, 13 grape varieties and more than 760,000 liters of must treated during harvest.

The campaign followed industrial-scale trials conducted in 2024 at an Italian winery, where Elea said it first validated the technology under real production conditions. Those earlier results were presented at Enoforum 2025 and showed that PEF could be integrated into winery operations without major disruption. The company said the new roadshow was designed to move from validation to field application and to test how the technology performs across different grape types, cellar practices and regional conditions.

The mobile setup used a trailer-mounted PEF Advantage P1e system that could be plugged in downstream of the destemmer-crusher without structural changes to existing equipment. Elea said that allowed the unit to be installed quickly and used during harvest at wineries in Veneto, Umbria, Abruzzo, Campania, Sicily and Ribera del Duero. The project covered white grapes including Chardonnay, Pecorino, Fiano, Grillo, Glera, Trebbiano, Vermentino and Spoletino, as well as red grapes such as Aglianico, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, Sangiovese and a Bardolino blend made from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.

According to Elea, the trials showed consistent trends but not identical outcomes across all sites. In red wines, several tests indicated stronger color intensity and structure, which the company linked to greater extraction of phenolic compounds. It also reported lower levels of some higher alcohols associated with less desirable aromas, including isoamyl alcohol, isobutanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol. In some cases, diacetyl increased, which can add roundness depending on the style of wine being made.

In white wines, Elea said PEF affected must clarification and composition. In several cases, treated must clarified on its own without fining agents. The company also reported higher total dry extract and glutathione in some samples. In specific varieties such as Grillo, catechin levels fell sharply, in some cases by as much as 70%.

Fermentation also tended to move faster in both red and white vinifications. Elea said that in some trials alcoholic fermentation finished sooner than in untreated batches, improving cellar efficiency. But it added that this was not uniform across all varieties or wineries. The company said the response depended on grape matrix, yeast management and broader cellar practice.

Winemakers who took part in the trials said they could taste differences in the finished wines. Elea said white wines from treated grapes were often described as more expressive and structured, with broader aroma and better balance on the palate. Red wines were described as showing more fruit expression, greater roundness and softer tannins. The tastings were carried out under controlled conditions so treated and untreated lots could be compared within the same winery protocols.

The company said the main lesson from the campaign was that PEF should not be viewed as a simple plug-and-play tool. Instead, it works best when paired with fermentation management and cellar decisions tailored to each variety and production goal. Elea said direct collaboration with winemakers was essential because results depended on adapting process parameters to local conditions.

Elea plans to present the findings at Enoforum 2026 in Zaragoza on May 20-21. The company said it will show comparative data from the roadshow at Booth 13 and offer tastings of Tempranillo wines made during the 2025 campaign at Coto de Caleruega winery. Stefan Toepfl of Elea and Javier Raso of the University of Zaragoza are scheduled to speak on May 21 at 10:30 a.m. about recent advances in PEF applications in enology.