Impact of the non-volatile matrix composition on red wine aroma release and perception of olfactory and oral cues

Abstract

AIM: Aroma and mouthfeel cues are the main characteristics defining red wine quality. During wine tasting, perceptual and physical-chemical phenomena leading to mutual interactions between volatiles and non-volatiles sensory active compounds, can occur. Aroma perception depends on the release of volatiles from wine, that is affected by wine constituents present in the medium (Pittari et al. 2021; Lyu et al. 2021).

Our aim was to evaluate the effect of the non-volatile wine matrix composition (polyphenols, PPh) on the release and perception of red wine aromas by an experiment of matrix enrichment.

METHODS: A saigner (bleed) wine (S) was progressively added with increasing amount of dry extract from a deodorized pressed wine (P). Four different wine matrices having the same VOCs composition and increasing (ANOVA, α<0.05) anthocyanins and tannins concentrations, were obtained: S, S1P0.5, S1P1.5, S1P2. The oral and olfactory characteristics of the wine matrices were evaluated by a descriptive sensory assessment on a numerical category scale, and the overall odour and astringency intensities were also tested.  How the different non-volatile matrix composition affected the release of VOCs, was tested by HS-SPME/GC-MS in conditions reproducing those occurring during wine tasting (30 mL of wine in INAO tulip shaped wine glasses, 25±1°C).

RESULTS: Results show that the release of red wine VOCs belonging to different chemical classes can be significantly affected by anthocyanins and tannins concentration. The release of important wine aromas, such as linalool, ethyl butanoate and ethyl decanoate raised over their detection threshold as PPhs increased.

CONCLUSIONS:

Correlations between chemical and sensory results, suggest that even if the matrix effect was not significant on the overall odour intensity, it modulated the olfactory profile of the wine matrices and the perception of specific mouthfeel features.