Glucosidase and esterase salivary activities and their involvement in consumer’s wine sensory perception and liking
Abstract
Wine flavour is the integration of distinct physiologically defined sensory systems that combine taste, aroma and trigeminal sensations, and it is a key determinant factor for the acceptance of wine by consumers. Volatile compounds, are important contributors to wine flavour, specially to aroma. These small and low-boiling point compounds are easily released into the air allowing to enter and move within the nasal or oral cavities where they can bind the olfactory receptors. Additionally, wine also contains aroma precursors, which are non-volatile compounds, but that can be broken down releasing volatile odorants. During wine tasting, all these chemicals (volatiles and non-volatiles) can be submitted to the action of salivary enzymes. Salivary esterases can hydrolyse wine carboxylic esters while β-glucosidases can act on glycosidically bound volatiles releasing odorant aglycones. Therefore, these enzymes might have the ability to modify the original wine aroma composition and likely, aroma perception. However, the role of salivary enzymes and their impact on wine flavour perception and wine liking has been very little explored.
In this study, the salivary esterase and β-glucosidase activities were assessed in fresh saliva collected from more than 200 wine consumers. They also performed the sensory evaluation (intensity and liking) of different red and white modified wines that elicited one predominant sensory stimulus (bitter, astringent, acid, sweet, fruity and woody aroma). Results from this study provides a large set of data regarding the prevalence of salivary enzymes with potential impact on wine aroma perception in groups of consumers segmented by PROP taste phenotype, age and gender providing new insights about the role of saliva enzymes on inter-individual differences on wine flavour perception, which should be considered to better understand consumer’s preferences.
Acknowledgements: Authors acknowledge AEI and MICIN for the financial support (Project PID2019-11734-RB-I00) and all the participants in this study.
DOI:
Issue: ICGWS 2023
Type: Article
Authors
Instituto de investigación en Ciencias de la Alimentación (CIAL) (CSIC-UAM), C/ Nicolás Cabrera, 9, 28049, Madrid, Spain