IVAS 2022 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 IVAS 9 IVAS 2022 9 Valpolicella chemical pattern of aroma ‘terroir’ evolution during aging

Valpolicella chemical pattern of aroma ‘terroir’ evolution during aging

Abstract

Valpolicella is an Italian region famous for the production of high quality red wines. Wines produced in its different sub-regions are believed to be aromatically different, as confirmed by recent studies in our laboratory. Aging is a very common practice in Valpolicella and it is required by the appellation regulation for periods up to four years. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution, during aging, of volatile chemical composition of Valpolicella wines obtained from grapes harvested in different sub-regions during different vintages.

Wines were produced with a standard protocol with Corvina and Corvinone grapes, the two main varieties of Valpolicella appellation. Grapes were harvested from five different vineyards located in two sub-regions within Valpolicella during three 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages. Wines were submitted to accelerated aging treatment at 16°C and 40 °C for 30 days in epoxy resin sealed vials. Free volatile compounds and glycosidic precursors were analysed with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis coupled with SPE and SPME extractions techniques.

Application of multivariate data analysis techniques to young wines allowed to identify volatile chemical patterns representing the unique aroma chemical signature of the geographical origin of each wine, regardless of vintages. In the case of aged wines, aroma signatures of individual geographical origin were preserved to a good extent after aging. In the case of Corvina, ageing slightly reduced the diversity associated with vineyard signature, conversely in Corvinone it seemed to have enhanced it. Terpenes were at the same times among the main drivers of vineyard signatures of both young and aged wines but also among the compounds most affected by ageing treatments. Highly relevant correlations were found between the decrease of some of the terpenes, mainly linalool, geraniol, β-citronellol and nerol, and the occurrence or increase of others like p-menthane-1,8-diol, 1,4- and 1,8-cineole. A significant influence of pH was found in the accumulation patterns of 1,8-cineole. These transformations involve odor- active compounds with implications for floral and balsamic attributes. Despite the deep changes occurring during aging, aged wines retained an aroma chemical signature that was characteristic of their geographical origin.

DOI:

Publication date: June 24, 2022

Issue: IVAS 2022

Type: Poster

Authors

Luzzini Giovanni1, Slaghenaufi Davide1, Ugliano Maurizio1

1University of Verona

Contact the author

Keywords

Valpolicella, wine aging, terroir, Chemical signature of geographical identity, Red wine aroma

Tags

IVAS 2022 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Grape development revisited through the single-berry metabolomic clock paradigm

Although the ripening process of grapevine berries is well-documented at the vineyard level, pinpointing distinct developmental stages remains challenging. The asynchronous development of berries results in dynamic biases and metabolic chimerism. It is thus crucial to consider individual berries separately and resynchronize their internal clock for deciphering physiological changes throughout development. Given the importance of grape composition in wine quality, we aimed at measuring developmental changes in the metabolome of Syrah single berries from anthesis to over-ripening, without a priori preconceived.

How the management of ph during winemaking affects acetaldehyde evolution and the formation of polymeric phenolics over the red wine aging

The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of pH on both the acetaldehyde chemistry and wine phenolics evolution over the aging period. In addition, the effect of both an early and late acidification was evaluated

Exploring the mechanisms of grapevine single berry development and ripening

The strategy of single berry phenotyping is a recently rediscovered research tool that has gained great attention. The latest studies have indicated that previous physiological models based on pooling asynchronous populations of berries provided biased or blurred information on berry development key players. The possibility of monitoring and sampling single synchronized berries to study their development sequentially has opened new lines of research aimed at unraveling the genes that regulate grapevine fruit development. This study aimed to decipher the gene pathways responsible for the activation/deactivation of physiological processes involved in the green phase of growth, the onset of ripening, and the second growth phase.

«Aztec» – the new white table grape resistant variety

This paper presents is the create, the study and amplographic
description the new white Greek table variety grapes “Aztec”, created in 2013 by breeder P. Zamanidis at
the Athens vineyard of the Institute of Olive, Subtropical Plants and Vine.

Effect of fertigation strategies to adapt PGI Côtes de Gascogne production to hot vintage

The development of fertigation could be a possible solution to adapt PGI Côtes de Gascogne (south-western France) wine production to climate change. The goal would be to limit the negative effects of water stress on yield performance expectation (around 15 tons per hectare) and to make the use of fertilizers more efficient. This study aimed to compare the effects of three strategies of water and minerals supply on grapes and wines qualities. Two fertigation practices were compared to a rainfed control which is the current standard of the local grape growing production. The fertilizers (nitrogen and potassium) were (i) fully brought by irrigation pipe during the season, (ii) partially brought by irrigation pipe and partially on the soil or (iii) fully brought on the soil at the beginning of the season for the non-irrigated control (local standard). The trial was run on cv. Colombard trained on spur pruned with vertical shoot positioning system on a sandy-silty-clay soil over the 2020 vintage which was particularly hot for the region. Moderate to strong water deficit appeared during the growing period of the berries and held on after veraison. Irrigation strategies allowed for maintaining grapevine without water deficit and being significantly different from the control water status. Grapevine with fully or partial fertigation strategies produced 25% more yield mainly due to the increase of the bunch weight. Also, the fully fertigation showed the best ratio between yield and maturity and brought 30% less of fertilizers (both nitrogen and potassium) than the two other strategies. Finally, the analysis of aromatic compounds in Colombard wines, varietal thiols family, showed the same level of concentrations for the 3 treatments, confirming that the yield performance did not impact the aromatic potential in this trial.