terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 ASSESSING THE ROLE OF 27 KNOWN BITTER COMPOUNDS IN COMMERCIAL WHITE WINES COMBINING LC-MS QUANTIFICATION AND SENSORY ANALYSIS

ASSESSING THE ROLE OF 27 KNOWN BITTER COMPOUNDS IN COMMERCIAL WHITE WINES COMBINING LC-MS QUANTIFICATION AND SENSORY ANALYSIS

Abstract

The balance between the different flavours of a wine largely determines its perception and appreciation by the consumers. In white wines, sweetness and sourness are usually the two poles balancing the taste properties. The bitter flavour, on the other hand, is frequently associated with a loss of equilibrium and all white wines (dry and sweet, young and aged) are affected.

Several bitter compounds are already well-described in wines. Some are linked to microorganisms as acrolein (Bauer et al., 2010) or oak wood, for example lyoniresinol (Cretin et al., 2015), while others come directly from grapes: mostly phenolic (Hufnagel and Hofmann, 2008) and nitrogen compounds (Roudot-Algaron, 1996). Furthermore, the enhancing role played by ethanol has also been well established (Cretin et al., 2018). The present study aims to determine the influence of twenty-seven known bitter compounds on the taste of various commercial white wines.

Thirty wines have been selected and submitted to sensory analysis by a trained panel. The various intensities of sourness, sweetness and bitterness have been determined for each wine. Jointly, five quantification methods have been developed and validated using liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Exactive, Orbitrap analyzer) in order to determine the amount of the selected bitter compounds.

Potential correlations between the described tastes of the wines and concentrations of bitter molecules have been assessed. For the most relevant compounds, detection thresholds have been updated using the same trained panel, enabling a better understanding of the impact of various compounds.

This study enlightens the role of already known bitter compounds in bitter wine. It is also leading the way to further research as some wine’s taste remain unexplained by the selected compounds, thus confirming the potential presence of still unknown bitter compounds.

 

1. Bauer, R., Cowan, D. A., Crouch, A., 2010. Acrolein in wine : importance of 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde and derivatives in production and detection. J. Agric. Food Chem. 58, 3243-3250.
2. Cretin, B., Sallembien, Q., Sindt, L., Daugey, N., Buffeteau, T., Waffo-Teguo, P., Dubourdieu, D., Marchal, A., 2015. How stereochemistry influences the taste of wine : Isolation, characterization and sensory evaluation of lyoniresinol stereoisomers. Analytica chimica acta. 888, 191-198.
3. Cretin, B., Dubourdieu, D., Marchal, A., 2018. Influence of ethanol content on sweetness and bitterness perception in dry wines. Food science & technology. 87, 61-66.
4. Hufnagel, J.C., Hofmann, T., 2008. Quantitative reconstruction of the nonvolatile sensometabolome of a red wine. J. Agric. Food Chem. 56, 9190-9199.
5. Roudot-Algaron, F., 1996. Le goût des acides aminés, des peptides et des protéines : exemple de peptides sapides dans les hydrolysats de caséines. Lait. 76, 313-348.

DOI:

Publication date: February 9, 2024

Issue: OENO Macrowine 2023

Type: Article

Authors

Tom Estier1,2 and Axel Marchal1,2

1. Univ. Bordeaux, Bordeaux INP, INRAE, OENO, UMR 1366, ISVV, F-33140 Villenave d’Ornon, France
2. Bordeaux Sciences Agro, Bordeaux INP, INRAE, OENO, UMR 1366, ISVV, F-33170 Gradignan, France

Contact the author*

Keywords

LC-MS quantification, sensory analysis, bitterness, wine

Tags

IVES Conference Series | oeno macrowine 2023 | oeno-macrowine

Citation

Related articles…

Overhead spray water treatment as a mitigation strategy for reducing vine stress and preserving grape quality during heatwaves

Changes in climate have been influencing the quality of wine grapes worldwide. The impact of extreme climate events over short periods is increasingly recognized as a serious risk to grape quality and yield quantity. In this study the mitigation effects of a pulsed water spray on vine canopy during heatwave events has been evaluated for maintaining vine condition during the growing season and grape quality. Vines of three varieties (Malbec, Bonarda, and Syrah) under drip irrigation in the UNCuyo experimental vineyard were treated with an overhead pulsed water spray.

Read More

NEW TREATMENTS FOR TEMPRANILLO WINES BY USING CABERNET SAUVIGNON VINE-SHOOTS AND MICRO-OXYGENATION

Toasted vine-shoots as enological additive represents a promising topic due to their significant effect on wine profile. However, the use of this new enological tool with SEGs varieties different than wine and combined with others winemaking technologies, such as micro-oxygenation (MOX), has not been studied so far, despite this combination could result in wine with high chemical and organoleptic quality.

Read More

MOVING FROM SULFITES TO BIOPROTECTION: WHICH IMPACT ON CHARDONNAY WINE?

Over the last few years, several tools have been developed to reduce the quantity of sulfites used during winemaking, including bioprotection. Although its effectiveness in preventing the development of spoilage microorganisms has been proven, few data are available on the impact of sulfite substitution by bioprotection on the final product. The objective of this study was therefore to characterize Chardonnay wines with the addition of sulfite or bioprotection in the pre-fermentation stage. The effects of both treatments on resulting matrices was evaluated at several scales: analysis of classical oenological parameters, antioxidant capacity, phenolic compounds, non-volatile metabolome and sensory profile.

Read More

PREVALENCE OF OAK-RELATED AROMA COMPOUNDS IN PREMIUM WINES

Barrel fermentation and barrel-ageing of wine are commonly utilised practices in premium wine production. The wine aroma compounds related to barrel contact are varied and can enhance a range of wine aromas and flavours, such as ‘struck flint’, ‘caramel’, ‘red berry’, ‘toasty’ and ‘nutty’, as well as conventional oaky characters such as ‘vanilla’, ‘spice’, ‘smoky’ and ‘coconut’. A survey of commercially produced premium Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines was conducted, assessing the prevalence of compounds that have been proposed as barrel-ageing markers¹ including oak lactones, volatile phenols, furanones, aldehydes, thiazoles2,3, phenylmethanethiol⁴ and 2-furylmethanethiol.⁵

Read More

INFLUENCE OF CHITOSAN, ABSCISIC ACID AND BENZOTHIADIAZOLE TREATMENTS ON SAVVATIANO (VITIS VINIFERA L.) WINES VOLATILE COMPOSITION PROFILE

In the last decades the use of bioestimulants in viticulture have been promoted as alternative to conven- tional pesticides. Moreover, as bioestimulants promote the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in grape berries, several studies had investigated their influence on the accumulation of phenolic com- pounds (Monteiro et al., 2022). However, few studies, so far, are focused on the accumulation of the vo- latile compounds and their impact on the produced wines (Giménez-Bañón et al., 2022; Gomez- Plaza et al., 2012; Ruiz Garcia et al., 2014).
This study was conducted in a single vineyard of white autochthonous grapevine variety Savvatia- no (Vitis vinifera L.) in Muses Valley (Askri, Viotia, Greece). Chitosan (CHT), Abscisic Acid (ABA) and Benzothiadiazole (BTH) were applied.

Read More