terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Congress on Grapevine and Wine Sciences 9 2ICGWS-2023 9 Wine odors: chemicals, physicochemical and perceptive processes involved in their perception

Wine odors: chemicals, physicochemical and perceptive processes involved in their perception

Abstract

The odors of wines are diverse, complex and dynamic and much research has been devoted to the understanding of their chemical bases. However, while the “basic” chemical part of the problem, namely the identity of the chemicals responsible for the different odor nuances, was satisfactorily solved years ago, there are some relevant questions precluding a clear understanding. These questions are related to the physicochemical interactions determining the effective volatilities of the odorants and, particularly, to the perceptual interactions between different odor molecules affecting in different ways to the final sensory outputs.

The understanding of perceptual interactions has been delayed to a large extent by the common misunderstanding that odorants and odors are the same thing. Odorants are, however, chemical entities -volatile molecules- able to impact the olfactory receptors, while odors are the sensory experiences encoded by odorants. A significant part of the code is nowadays known, and can be explained in terms of odor x odor interactions. These interactions can be competitive, cooperative, destructive and creative. Cooperative interactions are relevant because give rise to the concept of odor vector, establishing a key link between the chemical and sensory spaces. Different studies have shown that the nearly 80 main wine odorants form 35 different wine aroma vectors, classified into 10-different aroma categories. Yet, aroma vectors can further interact by creative interactions to form new aroma nuances. Some of these interactions have been identified and will be shown. Furthermore, destructive interactions can also take a major role in wine, since ethanol and the higher alcohols are strong aroma suppressors. These suppression effects are of the highest interest in wine dealcoholization.

Finally, it will be shown that physicochemical interactions with different matrix components are enough to change the volatilities of some odorants by factors between 2 and 4, more than enough to have sensory relevance.

Acknowledgement. Most of this research has been funded by the Spanish government (projects MYCIN PID2021-126031OB; MINECO AGL2017-87373)

DOI:

Publication date: October 20, 2023

Issue: ICGWS 2023

Type: Article

Authors

Vicente Ferreira

Laboratory for Aroma Analysis and Enology (LAAE), University of Zaragoza, Spain

Tags

2ICGWS | ICGWS | ICGWS 2023 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Analysis of the interaction of melatonin with glycolytic proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentation 

Melatonin is a bioactive compound with antioxidant properties, that has been found in many fermented beverages, such as beer and wine [1]. Indeed, it has been shown that yeast can synthesize melatonin during alcoholic fermentation, although its role inside the cell, as well as the metabolic pathway involved in its synthesis, is still unclear [1]. Recent studies showed that during fermentation, melatonin interacts with different proteins of the glycolytic pathway in both Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeast, for instance glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase or enolase [2].

Read More

The 1000 grapevine genomes project: Cataloguing Australia’s grapevine germplasm

Grapevine cultivars can be unequivocally typed by both physical differences (ampelography) and genetic tests. However due to their very similar characteristics, the identification of clones within a cultivar relies on the accurate tracing of supply records to the point of origin. Such records are not always available or reliable, particularly for older accessions. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides the most highly detailed methodology for defining grapevine cultivars and more importantly, this can be extended to differentiating clones within those cultivars.

Read More

Uncovering the interplay between Copper and SO2 tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.20.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...
Read More

Metabolomic profiling of botrytized grape berries: unravelling the dynamic chemical transformations during noble rot

Botrytis cinerea, a fungal pathogen commonly known as grey mold, which under specific climatic conditions can develop into a desirable form known as noble rot. In this process the fungus penetrates the grape skin, allowing water evaporation and concentration of sugars and flavors, while profoundly affects the metabolite composition of grapes, leading to the production of unique and desirable compounds in the resulting wines. The result is a unique and complex wine with a luscious sweetness, heightened aromatics, and a distinct character.

Read More

Oxidability of wines made from Spanish minority grape varieties

The phenolic profile of a wine plays an essential role in its oxidative capacity and in both white and red wines it defines its shelf life[1]. The study of minority varieties to produce wines with peculiar characteristics necessarily includes the phenolic and oxidative characterization of the wines produced. This paper presents the study of wines made from 24 minority and majority white and red grape varieties, focusing on phenolic characteristics (total phenols, slightly polymerized phenols, highly polymerized phenols, anthocyanins…), color, as well as parameters related to the oxidability of the wines and their capacity to consume oxygen [2].

Read More