Aromatic profile of chardonnay – clone 809: from berry to sparkling wine in an altitude vineyard

Abstract

AIM: Wine consumption is linked to the aromatic profile, consumer acceptance, and reflects the viticultural and oenological practices applied, together with the study related to clones is a way to evaluate the adaptation, production, and search for differentiated aromatic characteristics. Thus, the aromatic profile of Chardonnay cultivar clone 809 was evaluated, due to its moscato character, in order to verify its potential for sparkling wines in the southeast region of Minas Gerais (Brazil) in comparison to clone 76 that the plantation is predominant in the region.

METHODS: The study was conducted in a 6-year-old experimental altitude vineyard of EPAMIG located at Caldas city, and vinification was performed according to the traditional method, Champenoise (18 months in sur lie). Grapes were harvested in the maturity stage for sparkling wine production and in both fermentation was applied Saccharomyces bayanus yeast. The free volatile compounds were identified by HS-SPME/GC-MS in two consecutive seasons, 2017 and 2018, and in the clones 76 and 809 of Chardonnay cultivar grafted onto 1103 Paulsen and trained on a vertical shoot positioned trellis.

RESULTS: It was pointed out between 54 and 90 compounds in all matrices (berry, must, base wine and sparkling wine), and the number of monoterpenoid compounds found in clone 809 was slightly more than double that found in clone 76 (31 compounds against 14), as was the abundance of these compounds in all of them. The multivariate analysis was applied for the base and sparkling wines evaluation for both clones and seasons, showing that the process steps differentiate in PC 1 (42.3%, base wine x sparkling wine), PC2 discriminated the clones (16.8%, clone 809 x clone 76), and the third component (15.1%) distinguished the base wines in seasons and the sparkling wines were grouped together conforming to the clone. Clone 809 was discriminated according to the following compounds: α-terpineol, linalool, ß-mircene, hotrienol, nerol oxide and limonene.

CONCLUSIONS

According to the multivariate analysis, the sparkling wines were grouped by their clones, suggesting that, regardless of the vintage, the sparkling wine, showed significant influence derived from clone genetics, and that according to the compounds confers floral, fruity and sweet aromas to sparkling wines elaborated with Chardonnay grape berries – clone 809. Although the data showed this difference between Chardonnay clones, the sensory analysis would be an additional tool to confirm the Moscato character and to guide further experiments.