WINE SWIRLING: A FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE UNLOCKING OF THE WINE’STASTER GESTURE

The fresh mushroom off-flavour (FMOff) has been appearing in wines since the 2000s. Some C8 compounds such as 1-octen-3-one, 1-octen-3-ol, 1-hydroxyoctan-3-one, 3-octanol and others are involved in this specific off-flavour [1-3]. At the same time, glycosidic precursors of some FMOff compounds have been identified in musts contaminated by Crustomyces subabruptus [4], highlighting the role of aroma precursors in this specific taint. However, the fate of these volatile molecules and glycosidic fractions during fermentation is not well known.

The interest in indigenous non-Saccharomyces yeast for use in wine production has increased in recent years because they contribute to the complex character of the wine. The aim of this work was to investigate the fermentation products of ten indigenous strains selected from a collection of native yeasts established at the Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation in 2021, previously isolated from Croatian Maraština grapes, belonging to Hypopichia pseudoburtonii, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, Metschnikowia sinensis, Metschnikowia chrysoperlae, Lachancea thermotolerans, Pichia kluyveri, Hanseniaspora uvarum, Hanseniaspora guillermondii, Hanseniaspora pseudoguillermondii, and Starmerella apicola species, and compare it with commercial non-Saccharomyces and Saccharomyces strains.

The vocabulary used to describe wine aroma is commonly organized according to color, raising the question of whether they reflect the reality of olfactory perception. Previous studies have assumed this convention of color-aroma matching, and have investigated color’s influence on the perception of aroma only in dyed white wine or in red wine from particular places of origin. Here 48 white and red varietal wines from around the world were evaluated in black glasses then in clear glasses by a panel of wine experts, who gave intensity ratings for aroma attributes commonly used by wine professionals. In black glasses, aromas conventionally associated with white wine were perceived in the red wines, and vice versa.

The chemistry of wine is notably complex and is modified by ageing of the bottles. The composition of wines is the result of vine production (under the influence of vintage, climate and soils); yeast production (under the influence of juice composition and fermentation management); lactic bacteria production (under the influence of young wine composition and malolactic fermentation management); and of the ageing process either in vats, barrels or bottles or both. The composition is linked to the quality perceived by consumers but also to their origin, sometimes associated to the “terroir” concept.

Quercetin (Q) is present in grape in form of glycosides and as aglycone. These compounds are extracted from grape skins during winemaking. In wines, following the hydrolysis reactions, the amount of quercetin aglycon can exceed its solubility value. Unfortunately, a threshold solubility concentration for quercetin in wine is not easy to determine because it depends on wine matrix (Gambuti et al., 2020).