# Helium Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet Source Treatment of White Grapes Juice for Winemaking
###### Abstract
Wine and winemaking history is lost in time and is closely connected with the history of agriculture, cuisine, humanity and civilization itself. It is well known that people enjoy drinking wine for its taste, flavors and for the health benefits of moderate wine consumption, nowadays being a component of the culture of many countries. A moderate amount of alcohol from wine consumption (150-300 mL/day) can protect against cardiovascular disease, dietary cancers, ischemic stroke, diabetes, hypertension and so on [50]. Additionally, the polyphenols from wine have antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial and anti-carcinogen proprieties which imply health benefits [50; 51; 52; 53]. Apart this, vine and wine has an important economic status, including in the world trade market as well as the agro-tourism to wineries and wine-growing areas. The vineyards became a new attraction for tourism with the thematic trips \"on the way of wine\" in the vineyards as well as wine tasting directly from wineries and cellars. Romania is one of the principal producers and consumers of wine from the European Union, which account for 53% of world consumers in 2019 (according to International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV): OIV-state of the world vitvinicultural sector in 2019 [54]). In concordance with the OIV annual report, Romania is the 5 th EU country with a vineyard surface area of 191 kha after Spain (966 kha), France (794 kha), Italy (708 kha) and Portugal (195 kha). Although the weather good condition favored a potentially large 2020 harvest, Romania (3.6 mhl) had a negative variation of production in relation with 2019 and the last 5 years (\(-\)7% and \(-\)17% respectively) (in compliance with the OIV-2020 world wine production first estimates from October 2020 [55]). The Romanian wine-growing is divided into eight regions, after [PERSON] et al. [56]:  
* the Transylvanian Plateau (Tarnave, Alba, Sebes-Apold, Aitud, Lechinta vineyards)
* the Moldavian Plateau (Cotnari, Iasi, Husi, Dealurile Falciului, Colinele Tutovei, Zeletin, Dealu Bujorului, Nicoresti, Ivesti, Covurlui vineyards)
* the Piedmont at the Carpathian's Curvature (Panciu, Odobesti, Cotesti, Buzu's, Dealu Mare vineyards)
* the Getic Plateau (Stefanesti-Arges, Samburesti, Dragassani, Dealurile Craiovei, Pliaurile Drancei, Severin Vineyards)
* The Banat-Crisana-Maramures (Banat, Minis-Maderat, Diosig, Valea lui Mihai, Silvaniei vineyards)
* the Sands in the South of Oltenia (Dacilor, Calafat, Sadova-Corabia vineyards)
* the Romanian Plain (Greaca, independent wine-growing centers situated in the Romanian plain)The Dobrogea Plateau (Sarica-Nicultel, Istria-Babadag, Murfatlar, Ostrov vineyards)  
The Moldavian Plateau, situated in the Eastern part of Romania, is the biggest wine-growing region (69,154 ha) with vines planted at 200-500 m altitude, on different types of soil. From a geological point of view the wine-growing area corresponds to the Moldavian Platform, with soil developed on Sarmatian (Bassarabian and Chersonian) sedimentary rocks consisting of clays and interlayer sand or interbanded clays and carbonates [57]. The climatic conditions of the area are characteristic of a temperate continental type. In this report, by using the principles of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), in a cylindrical configuration, we power up an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (appj) in helium. This plasma is used for treatment of fresh (just prepared) juice obtained from white grapes from a small family vineyard. Our research is focused on the correlation of He-appj parameters (like: applied voltage, plasma current, power, plasma excited/reactive nitrogen and oxygen species) with the physico-chemical properties of white must and the resulting white wine (1- and 2-year old), via ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, thus proving the possible usage of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment for winemaking.