Characterization of Cold Soak on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon Grape and Wine Volatiles Using an Electronic Nose System

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Date
2009-04-30
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Virginia Tech
Abstract

The use of the electronic nose in the wine industry is an emerging technology. Although electronic nose systems have been used in other industries as tools to monitor fruit maturity or quality control, the use of these systems for wine analysis has been debated. Many electronic nose sensor types exist, but have often been accused of primarily discriminating varying ethanol concentrations of wines as opposed to aroma and flavor volatiles. This study evaluated the use of a commercial conducting polymer electronic nose to evaluate wines while minimizing ethanol interference. The first study presented evaluated the discrimination ability of an electronic nose with use of an ethanol baseline prior to wine evaluation. This experiment also determined the optimal wine temperature for electronic nose analysis. A second study reviewed the ability of the electronic nose to discriminate Cabernet Sauvignon grape and wine volatiles based on a pre-fermentation cold soak treatment. The electronic nose was used to monitor volatile changes throughout a five day cold soak, and to discriminate differences in control versus cold soak wines. These results were compared with juice and wine analytical data, GC-MS evaluation of individual volatiles, and sensory analysis of the finished wines. It was found that discrimination of wines improved from 33% to 60% when using an ethanol baseline. Influence of the baseline was indicated by a drop in sensor response prior to wine evaluation. A 30°C sample temperature was chosen for wine analysis based on sensor response and adequate discrimination in canonical distributions. The electronic nose was found to discriminate grape volatiles in cold soak musts as shown in canonical distributions at a 95% significance level. PCA distributions of electronic nose data, chemistry data, and GC-MS data showed varying degrees of discrimination based on analysis. Electronic nose data often showed 100% of variation of samples accounted by PC1. Despite differences in treatment by ENose and analytical data, sensory results did not find a difference in control and cold soak wines.

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Keywords
electronic, volatiles, cold soak, Cabernet Sauvignon, wine
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