Thanks to their low odor detection thresholds, free varietal thiols (VTs) play a key role in the primary aroma of wines, to which they confer an intense scent reminiscent of box tree, grapefruit, citrus fruits, passionfruit and cat urine odor. Excluding wines from a few VT-rich grapevine cultivars, VTs appear to be present in most cultivars at trace levels, although a comprehensive dataset is still missing. The low concentration of VTs combined with their high reactivity and matrix complexity make their determination in wines a challenging task. In this research an optimized liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was validated and used for the quantification of 4-methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one (4-MSP), 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3-SH), 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3-SHA) and ethyl 3-sulfanylpropionate (E3SP) in 246 samples (vintage 2019) representative of 18 monovarietal Italian white wines. VTs were detected in all cultivars even though higher values of 3-SH were found in Lugana, Muller-Thurgau and Verdicchio cultivars. Muller-Thurgau wines showed the highest level of 4MSP, that was mainly correlated to the odor descriptors of passionfruit and box tree/cat urine. The VTs composition of Muller-Thurgau was confirmed on a second set of 50 wines from different vintages. From a sensory perspective, the samples of Muller-Thurgau showed the best positive correlations between chemical variables and the odor descriptors thiol note, passion fruit and box tree/cat urine. These notes are significantly related to 4-MSP, suggesting that it could play a relevant olfactory role for the aroma of Muller-Thurgau wines. Sorting analysis allowed to group these wines according to their thiolic characteristics. The chemical variables and the odor descriptors attributable to the thiol notes are important for Muller-Thurgau and Lugana wines, while the contribution of thiol notes was sensorially negligible for the other wines.

The contribution of varietal thiols in the diverse aroma of Italian monovarietal white wines

Tiziana Lisanti, Maria;Curioni, Andrea;Rolle, Luca;Luzzini, Giovanni;Ugliano, Maurizio;Vrhovsek, Urska;Mattivi, Fulvio
2022-01-01

Abstract

Thanks to their low odor detection thresholds, free varietal thiols (VTs) play a key role in the primary aroma of wines, to which they confer an intense scent reminiscent of box tree, grapefruit, citrus fruits, passionfruit and cat urine odor. Excluding wines from a few VT-rich grapevine cultivars, VTs appear to be present in most cultivars at trace levels, although a comprehensive dataset is still missing. The low concentration of VTs combined with their high reactivity and matrix complexity make their determination in wines a challenging task. In this research an optimized liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was validated and used for the quantification of 4-methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one (4-MSP), 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3-SH), 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3-SHA) and ethyl 3-sulfanylpropionate (E3SP) in 246 samples (vintage 2019) representative of 18 monovarietal Italian white wines. VTs were detected in all cultivars even though higher values of 3-SH were found in Lugana, Muller-Thurgau and Verdicchio cultivars. Muller-Thurgau wines showed the highest level of 4MSP, that was mainly correlated to the odor descriptors of passionfruit and box tree/cat urine. The VTs composition of Muller-Thurgau was confirmed on a second set of 50 wines from different vintages. From a sensory perspective, the samples of Muller-Thurgau showed the best positive correlations between chemical variables and the odor descriptors thiol note, passion fruit and box tree/cat urine. These notes are significantly related to 4-MSP, suggesting that it could play a relevant olfactory role for the aroma of Muller-Thurgau wines. Sorting analysis allowed to group these wines according to their thiolic characteristics. The chemical variables and the odor descriptors attributable to the thiol notes are important for Muller-Thurgau and Lugana wines, while the contribution of thiol notes was sensorially negligible for the other wines.
2022
3-Sulfanylhexan-1-ol
3-Sulfanylhexyl acetate
4-Methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one
Ebselen
Ethyl 3-sulfanylpropionate
LC-MS/MS
Lugana
Müller-Thurgau
Sensory analysis
Verdicchio
Volatile thiols
White wine
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/1126077
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