Revisiting esters hydrolysis in young white wines

Abstract

Esters play an essential role in the young white wines’ fruity expression, particularly the groups of ethyl esters of fatty acids (EEFAs) and higher alcohol acetates (HAAs) [1]. However, generally, these groups of esters decrease relatively fast during the first two years of ageing [1, 2]. Ester hydrolysis naturally occurs during wine maturation and bottle ageing [3]. Some authors suggested that the rate of esters hydrolysis could be affected by other factors such as the presence of metal ions or antioxidants [4, 5]. However, in wine, this has been poorly reported.

Thirty-three one-year-old commercial white wines, made from Chardonnay and Welschriesling varieties from different Eastern European countries, were subjected to accelerated ageing, all the samples in triplicate. Basic wine parameters were characterised and 17 esters were quantified by HS-SPME-GCMS before and after the forced ageing process. Additionally, the metal ion content (K, Ca, Na, Mg, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) was measured using ICP-MS. EEFAs and HAAs concentration decreased with ageing as reported in the literature [1, 2]. However, an important matrix effect on the hydrolysis rate was observed between wines, particularly in the case of HAAs. Contrary to our expectations, there was no link between the hydrolysis rate and the initial concentration of esters. Interestingly, iron concentration was positively correlated (Spearman’s correlation) with the loss of HAAs and EEFAs with the longest carbon chains (C10 and C12), suggesting that in real wine conditions metal ions could potentially favour ester hydrolysis. Additionally, K and Mg have shown an impact on HAAs of these wines through a PLS-R model. In parallel, a previous study performed on white wines artificially spiked with metal ions and esters showed that iron, manganese and copper increased the loss of esters during forced ageing irrespective of oxygen level [6]. The difference between both studies suggests that the role of metal ions in ester hydrolysis is matrix-specific. The present work demonstrated that ester hydrolysis is significantly affected by wine chemical components that differ from initial ester concentration and pH which were so far known as the most influential chemical factors on ester hydrolysis. Metal ions particularly iron can potentially favour faster ester hydrolysis but the important matrix effect on the ester hydrolysis rate observed in this study is overall driven by other factors, excluding pH, that still need to be investigated.

References

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[6] Radovanović Vukajlović T., Martelanc M., Šala M., Šelih V.S., Sternad Lemut M., Antalick G. (2024) Exploring the role of transition metal ions in the evolution of ester composition of wine during ageing. • IVES. https://ives-openscience.eu/41366/. Accessed 30 Nov 2024