AOC Saint-Romain, Hautes-Côtes-de-Beaune, Burgundy: analysis of a “terroir”

To meet the demand of assessment tool of vine growers and their advisers we adapted to the vine production the INDIGO® method to developed initially for arable farming.

Ribeira Sacra is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (D.O.) for wines, located in Galicia, NW Spain.

Despite their trace concentrations, volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) are an important category of flavour-active compounds that significantly contribute to desirable or undesirable aromas of many foods and beverages. In wines, VSCs in the form of polyfunctional thiols, notably 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3-SH), 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3-SHA), and 4-sulfanyl-4-methyl-pentan-2-one (4-MSP), possess extremely low olfactory thresholds (≈ ng/L) and pleasant “tropical aroma” notes. They have received much attention with respect to their sensory contributions, quantitative occurrences, biogenesis, and thiol management through viticulture and winemaking. However, the fate of these potent volatiles are still not fully understood.

Currently, to consistently ensure the maintenance of a wine-style while benefiting from the utmost rigor made possible by the winemaking process, the composition of the wine blend is made using sensory control. This is performed after the wine is made with no real possibility of deterministic intervention.

The wine aroma is constituted by hundred of volatile chemical compounds that depend on many viticultural and oenological factors.