Coumarins in Spirit Beverages: Sources, Quantification, and Their Involvement in Quality, Authenticity and Food Safety

Abstract

This comprehensive review is devoted to an under-exploited family of phenolic compounds, the coumarins, and the most relevant strands in which they are involved in some spirit beverages—wine spirit, brandy, whiskey, sugar-cane spirits (rum and cachaça) and grape marc spirit—with great importance worldwide in terms of production, trade and consumption. It gathers the key discoveries on the topic, considering the production process of each spirit beverage, and the related sources of coumarins (different kinds of wood used in the ageing stage), along with the factors that govern them and can influence the sensory properties of the aged beverages. An overview of the analytical methods available for their identification/quantification is also included, as well as the corresponding trends for the advancement of knowledge in this field. Moreover, the remarkable role of coumarins as nutraceuticals, their importance as chemical markers for authenticity purposes, and their relationship with the food safety of these spirit beverages are also addressed, highlighting the current gaps and issues, and providing clues for future research.

The Metabolic and Antioxidant Activity Profiles of Aged Greek Grape Marc Spirits

“…The presence of such metabolites with a phenolic and/or furanic ring is probably linked to a potent antioxidant activity profile. Evidence already exists on other grape marc spirits from Spain or Italy that probes the relationship between the in vitro antioxidant properties and lignin-derived phenolics that are transferred from wooden barrels to wine spirits [ 3 ].…”

“…This observation is very important, as it confers to the aged Greek grape marc spirits metabolites of enhanced added value compared with the “fresh” ones. The health benefits of moderate consumption of aged spirits can be attributed to their phenolic composition with enhanced bioactivity, such as free-radical scavenging, inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and reducing platelet aggregation and thrombosis, in opposition to ethanol-induced damage [ 3 ].…”

“…The different responses of the methods may be attributed to the different phenolic, furanic, and diphenolic content of the aged grape marc spirit. The duration of aging and the type of barrel may also contribute to this variation [ 3 ].…”

“…This observation is very important, as it confers to the aged Greek grape marc spirits metabolites of enhanced added value compared with the "fresh" ones. The health benefits of moderate consumption of aged spirits can be attributed to their phenolic composition with enhanced bioactivity, such as free-radical scavenging, inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and reducing platelet aggregation and thrombosis, in opposition to ethanol-induced damage [3]. According to the mean values displayed in Table 1, the multivarietal spirits (Moschofilero, Moscato, and Chardonnay) aged in the oak barrel for two years feature higher phenolic and o-diphenols content and exhibit the most potent antioxidant activity profile, followed by the samples of Muscat Blanc aged for 1 year and the single-varietal Agiorgitiko, also aged for 1 year.…”

“…During aging, the contact with wood confers to the beverage unique physicochemical and sensory characteristics. A plethora of phenomena contribute to the distinct profile of an aged beverage, i.e., the migration of wood compounds towards the beverage, and the entrance of oxygen in the barrel by diffusion or by micro-oxygenation resulting in oxidation and nonoxidative processes [ 3 ]. Especially, phenolics transferred from the barrel into the beverage play a key role in the color, aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel sensations of these beverages and may thus be perceived and even sought after by consumers [ 3 ].…”