The present study concerns the search for new aroma compounds associated with the flavor of aged and prematurely aged red wines. Sensory descriptive analysis associated with gas chromatography-olfactometry was first performed to find specific odoriferous zones. One of the zones, reminiscent of mint, was found in red wines with a prune flavor. Thanks to several analytical approaches including preparative gas chromatography, p-menth-1-en-3-one (piperitone), has been identified in red wines. The olfactory detection threshold of this terpene reminiscent of mint was 0.9μg/L in model hydroalcoholic solution and 70μg/L in red wines. Chiral multidimensional GC-MS was used to show that piperitone was present mainly in the (R) form in red wines. The concentration of piperitone in aged red wines ranged from a few ng/L to 435ng/L, but the level was not linked to the age of the wine nor to its premature evolution.
Keywords: (+) Piperitone (PubChem CID: 61362); (−) Piperitone (PubChem CID: 107561); 3-Methyl-2,4-nonanedione (PubChem CID: 529481); Flavor; Piperitone; Piperitone (PubChem CID: 6987); Preparative gas chromatography; Red wine.
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