Analytical Characterization of the Aroma of Five Premium Red Wines. Insights into the Role of Odor Families and the Concept of Fruitiness of Wines

Abstract

The aroma profile of five premium red wines has been studied by sensory descriptive analysis, quantitative gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O), and chemical quantitative analysis. The most relevant findings have been confirmed by sensory analysis. Forty-five odorants, including the most intense, were identified. At least 37 odorants can be found at concentrations above their odor threshold. A satisfactory agreement between GC-O and quantitative data was obtained in most cases. Isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine, (E)-whiskey lactone, and guaiacol were responsible for the veggie, woody, and toasted characters of the wines, respectively. The sweet-caramel notes are related to the presence of at least five compounds with flowery and sweet notes. The phenolic character can be similarly related to the presence of 12 volatile phenols. The berry fruit note of these wines is related to the additive effect of nine fruity esters. Ethanol exerts a strong suppression effect on fruitiness, whereas norisoprenoids and dimethyl sulfide enhance fruity notes.

Quantitative Survey of 3-alkyl-2-methoxypyrazines and First Confirmation of 3-ethyl-2-methoxypyrazine in South African Sauvignon blanc Wines

“…4, the predicted flavour contribution of the total MPs (based on Allen & Lacey, 1998) to the analysed South African wines is given as a function of percentage of the total number of samples. It should be noted that, due to synergistic interactions between various aroma compounds, sensory properties and consumer preference of Sauvignon blanc wines are difficult to predict with great precision (Escudero et al, 2007;King et al, 2011), and the flavour descriptions used in the current context refer to the probable effect that these compounds may have on the aroma of the wines. The predicted flavour descriptions range from below recognition through to overpowering and out of balance, with 18% of the samples falling in the narrow concentration window where their contribution may be regarded as positively favourable to the vegetative Sauvignon blanc wine aroma.…”

Origins of Grape and Wine Aroma. Part 2. Chemical and Sensory Analysis

“…This can be attributed to the fact that GC-O analysis essentially evaluates the aroma of the compounds individually and separate from the sample matrix. GC-O does not take into account the interaction effects that occur when aroma compound interact with the nonvolatile matrix (Pineau et al 2007, Robinson et al 2009, Sáenz-Navajas et al 2010, 2012 and with other volatile compounds (Atanasova et al 2005b, Escudero et al 2007, Pineau et al 2009). As discussed later, these interactions may result in variations in the sensory character of the mixture due to enhancement and suppression effects.…”

“…For example, using descriptive analysis, it has been shown that fruity aromas in wines can significantly mask vegetal characters in the wines (Hein et al 2009). Similarly, at low concentrations, β-damascenone has the ability to mask the herbaceous aroma associated with 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (Pineau et al 2007) while enhancing the berry fruit aromas in red wines (Escudero et al 2007, Pineau et al 2007). As noted in the above section, the aromas of wine blends exhibited suppressive and amplifying effects when the intensity of specific aroma attributes of the blends was compared to the original aroma of the monovarietal wines (Hopfer et al 2012a).…”

“…Recent sensory research has shown that ethanol suppresses the fruity notes in model wine solutions (Grosch 2001, Escudero et al 2007, Le Berre et al 2007, King et al 2013 due to the increased solubility of the volatiles when ethanol is present (Le Berre et al 2007, Robinson et al 2009) and to the inhibition of volatile compound odor activity by ethanol (Grosch 2001). For example, β-damascenone is recognized universally as a potent wine aroma compound (Skouroumounis and Sefton 2002, Pineau et al 2007, Sefton et al 2011; however, its reported aroma threshold varies from 2 to 13 ng/L in water (Buttery et al 1990, Czerny et al 2008, to 50 ng/L (Guth 1997a) in 10% aqueous ethanol, to 7000 ng/L in a red wine matrix (Pineau et al 2007).…”

The Aroma of Rojal Red Wines from La Mancha Region – Determination of Key Odorants

“…These compounds were present in low concentration in all vintages. -damascenone is normally considered a positive contributor to wine aroma (Escudero et al, 2007) and its odor threshold (0.05 μg/l) (Guth, 1997) was exceeded in 2007, 2009 and 2010 vintages. Floral and exotic fruit notes are attributed to -damascenone, and due to its low odour threshold it can have a great sensorial impact on wines (Guth, 1997).…”