Metabolomic insights into wine’s sensory identity: unveiling climate-driven changes in aroma composition

Abstract

Wine, a sensitive and intricate agricultural product, is being affected by climate change, which accelerates grapevine phenological stages and alters grape composition and ripening. This influences the synthesis of key aroma compounds, shaping wine’s sensory attributes ^[1]. The complex aroma profile, resulting from compound interactions, presents a metabolomics challenge to identify these indicators and their environmental change responses, which is being addressed using diverse analytical techniques.

In our research, we focused on eight 14-year-old Vitis vinifera cv. grape varieties from the same plot (VITADAPT program, 2022 vintage): Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Castets, Cot, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Touriga Nacional. Grape berries were harvested on five stages i.e. mid-véraison (MV), half-maturity (MM), 7 days before maturity (M-7), maturity (M), and 10 days post-maturity (M+10) and microvinifications were conducted on the three last stages. In this study, we aim to use high-throughput profiling techniques for an in-depth metabolite analysis^[2]. We selected targeted analysis (GC/MS) for known aroma families (such as lactone, furanones, carbonyls, methoxypyrazines…) and untargeted (GCxGC TOF MS) metabolomics analysis and computational methods, including multivariate data analysis for detecting aromatic families extensively. The processing of spectral data, identifying variations, and cross-referencing GC/MS values will be integral parts of our methodology. Concurrently, we also assessed various climate variables to understand their impact on grape composition and the sensory characteristics of the wine produced.

Our approach will refine the impact of harvest date according to known climatic variables on the expression of metabolite and metabolic pathways due to environmental and genotypic variations. This comprehensive metabolomic analysis is aimed at deepening our understanding of berry, must and wine aroma composition and their metabolite pathways, ultimately enhancing their quality and value.

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