Application of the aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) on a distillate prepared from freshly squeezed juice of Dornfelder grapes revealed (3Z)-hex-3-enal and trans-4,5-epoxy-(2E)-dec-2-enal with the highest flavor dilution (FD) factors. In contrast, in the final Dornfelder wine prepared thereof, the highest FD factors were found for 2-phenylethyl acetate, 2-phenylethan-1-ol, and (E)-β-damascenone. However, for example, among others, (3Z)-hex-3-enal no longer appeared as an important odorant. To monitor the olfactory changes occurring in single processing steps from Dornfelder grapes to the final wine, selected odorants in grape juice, must, and young as well as aged wine from the same batch of Dornfelder grapes were quantitated. In particular, (3Z)-hex-3-enal and hexanal decreased considerably during mashing, while, as to be expected, the concentrations of yeast metabolites, e.g., odor-active alcohols and esters, drastically increased during fermentation. To reveal the influence of barrel aging, the odorants of the same Dornfelder wine aged in either barrique barrels or steel tanks were compared.
Keywords: Dornfelder grapes; Dornfelder red wine; barrique barrel; stable isotopically substituted odorants; steel tank.