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Thiol precursors in Grechetto grape juice and aromatic expression in wine

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Abstract

The contribution of cysteine and glutathione conjugates to the formation of thiol compounds in Grechetto wine has been evaluated for the first time, by the use of quantitative GC–MS analysis and odour activity values, as a function of the training system (either Royat cordon or simple Guyot) that was used for the vines. The concentration of conjugate precursors in the grape juice, in the case of both training systems, was found to increase significantly until 22°Brix, except for glutathionylated precursor of 4-methyl-4-sulfanyl-pentan-2-one. The amount of both thiol precursor forms was systematically higher for the Royat cordon system that seems to improve the accumulation of thiol precursors. However, this high juice concentration did not reveal an high content of volatile thiols in derived wine. 4-Methyl-4-sulfanyl-pentan-2-one (4MSP), 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3SH) and 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3SHA) have been identified as aroma compounds in both two monovarietal white wines from Grechetto grape, but only the amounts of 4MSP and 3SHA turned out to be considerably higher than their respective perception thresholds. Considering the growing interest in the varietal wines characteristics on the part of consumers, the results of present work could be useful to improve the scientific knowledge about the relationships between the grape content and wine composition.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from MIUR-Programma di ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) titled “Evoluzione di composti solforati varietali nella trasformazione enologica”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Martina Cerreti, Ilaria Benucci, Katia Liburdi & Marco Esti

  2. Department of Agriculture, University of Napoli ‘Federico II’, 80055, Portici, Italy

    Pasquale Ferranti & Carmela De Simone

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  1. Martina Cerreti
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  2. Pasquale Ferranti
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  3. Ilaria Benucci
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  4. Katia Liburdi
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Correspondence to Ilaria Benucci.

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Cerreti, M., Ferranti, P., Benucci, I. et al. Thiol precursors in Grechetto grape juice and aromatic expression in wine. Eur Food Res Technol 243, 753–760 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-016-2789-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-016-2789-7

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