Macrowine 2021
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Use of glutathione under different grape processing and winemaking conditions and its impact on the formation of sulfide off-flavors, colour, and sensory characteristics of Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, and Chardonnay

Use of glutathione under different grape processing and winemaking conditions and its impact on the formation of sulfide off-flavors, colour, and sensory characteristics of Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, and Chardonnay

Abstract

The use of glutathione (GSH) in winemaking has been legitimated recently, according to OIV resolutions OENO 445-2015 and OENO 446-2015 a maximum dose of 20 mg/L is now allowed to use in must and wine. Several studies have proven the benefits of GSH, predominantly in Sauvignon blanc. Thus, oxidative coloration of must and wine is limited, aroma compounds such as volatile thiols are preserved, and the development of ageing flavors such as sotolon and 2-aminoacetophenone is impeded. The protective effect may be explained by the high affinity of GSH to bind o-quinones which are formed during phenolic oxidation and which are known to initiate browning and other oxidative changes. Some researchers have proposed the hydroxycinnamic acid to GSH ratio (HGR) as an indicator of oxidation susceptibility of must and could show that lower ratios yielded lighter musts. In contrast to the advantages of GSH, other researchers found that GSH can foster the formation of H2S and other sulfide off-flavors during fermentation. Even during bottle aging, reductive odors may occur as a late consequence of high GSH levels during winemaking. In order to examine the impact of GSH on the formation of sulfide off-flavors, colour, and sensory characteristics, Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, and Chardonnay grapes were processed under different conditions to obtain musts with high and low phenolic content. Based on the original GSH concentration the HGR was adjusted using GSH or GSH-enriched IDY. The resulting wines were either racked off the lees or submitted to sur lie aging for 4 months. As already observed by others, GSH additions increased the GRP concentration in must and preserved their green color. At the same time, these musts tended to form higher concentrations of H2S, methyl and ethyl mercaptan during fermentation suggesting that excessive GSH is responsible for the production of volatile mercaptan metabolites. Normally, these compounds were degraded at the end of fermentation and dropped below sensory threshold as soon as the wines were racked off the gross lees. However, the decrease in mercaptan content, partly explained by the oxidative formation of disulfides, was strongly impaired when o-diphenols were low in concentration (e.g. in free run juice) or when musts were treated with ascorbic acid and SO2. This observation suggests that an effective mercaptan deodorization in young wines depends on the oxidizability of o-diphenols. Bottled wines were generally lower in GSH than musts. However, elevated levels of GSH could be determined after sur lie aging, possibly explaining the protection against oxidation in this aging regime. Sensory analysis after bottling revealed that the fruity odor of Riesling and Sauvignon blanc wines was enhanced when GSH was added to must in moderate concentrations. Excessive GSH, especially in musts with a low phenolic content (e.g. from whole-cluster pressing), could lead to sensorially noticeable sulfide off-flavor in the later wines.

Publication date: May 17, 2024

Issue: Macrowine 2016

Type: Poster

Authors

Dominik Durner*, Hans-Georg Schmarr, Pascal Wegmann-Herr, Sebastian Ullrich, Ulrich Fischer

*DLR Rheinpfalz

Contact the author

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Macrowine | Macrowine 2016

Citation

Related articles…

The effect of cropload on the volatile aroma characteristics of ‘Beihong’ and ‘Beimei’ red wine

Beihong and Beimei were bred as winemaking cultivars released by Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. The cultivars are selected from the population of ‘Muscat Hamburg’ (Vitis vinifera) ×V. amurensis. They are extended to most provinces in North of China because they have strong resistance to cold and disease and need not be buried in soil in winter. To better understand the effect of cropload on volatile compounds during wine-making, we surveyed volatiles composition and content of different cropload level in 3-years-old ‘Beihong’ and ‘Beimei’ vines which planted in east foot of Helan mountain of Ningxia (EHN).

Petrolomics-derived data interpretation to study acetaldehyde-epicatechin condensation reactions

During red wine ageing or conservation, color and taste change and astringency tends to reduce. These changes result from reactions of flavan-3-ols and/or anthocyanins among which condensation reactions with acetaldehyde are particularly important. The full characterization of these reactions has not been fully achieved because of difficulties in extracting and separating the newly formed compounds directly from wine. Model solutions mimicking food products constitute a simplified medium for their exploration, allowing the detection of the newly formed compounds, their isolation, and their structure elucidation.

Prevention of wine oxidation during barrel aging: an innovative method to measure antioxidant

Wine oxidation is a problem that affects the freshness, the aromatic profile, the colour and also the mouthfeel of the wine. It mainly concerns white wines. Oxygen interactions with wine compounds lead to the phenomena cited above that are responsible for the depreciation of these wines. Barrel aging is a crucial step in the wine process because it allows many modifications as wine enrichment, colour stabilization, clarification and also a slow oxygenation of the wine. Effects of the oak barrel have to be known to prevent oxidation of the wine. We have been interested in the main antioxidant compounds released by oak barrels to the wine and we have developed an innovative method to reach directly these antioxidant compounds at the oak stave surface.

Influence of inactive dry yeast treatments during grape ripening on postharvest berry skin texture parameters and phenolic compounds extractability

Inactive dry yeast treatments in the vineyard are a tool used with the aim to improve the concentration and quality of secondary metabolites in grapes, leading to a better differentiation of the wines made from grapes differently treated. In this work, a foliar spraying treatment with yeast derivatives specifically designed to be used with the patent pending application technology of Lallemand Inc. Canada (LalVigne® Mature, Lallemand Inc., Montreal, Canada) was tested on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Barbera and Nebbiolo black winegrapes. The aim was to evaluate the effect of this treatment on the phenolic compounds accumulation, the skin physical-mechanical properties and the related phenolic extractability. Prior to analysis, the berries were sorted by flotation in order to evaluate their distribution by density class, and to determine the skin texture parameters of berries with different sugar contents, thus understanding also the ripening effect.

Interest and impact of PVP/PVI (Polyvinylpyrrolidone/ Polyvinylimidazole) on winemaking and final quality of wines

Céline Sparrow a, Christophe Morge a, a SOFRALAB SAS, 79, av. A.A. Thévenet – CS 11031 – 51530 Magenta, France Consumers’ health and security force authorities to limit, in wine as in others food industry products, the concentration in « dangerous » molecules. Therefore the legal limit in heavy metals keeps on decreasing. As per proof EU regulation just decrease the stain concentration in wine from 0,2 to 0,15 mg/l. Certain changes , such as sodium arsenite treatment in vines, disappearance of brass in wineries to the benefit of stainless steel, limit even more the concentration of heavy metals in wines. But the use of copper derivates in vines treatments is difficult to replace. In the case of wine and its elaboration, the problem is even more complex. Indeed, regulation forces the wine producers to control the concentration of certain heavy metals in final wines.