Atypical aging off-flavour and relation between sensory recognition and 2-aminoacetophenone in Croatian wines

Abstract

Atypical aging off-flavour (UTA) is not a common wine fault but it is still an interesting topic, due to the complexity of the occurrence, chemical markers, and sensory descriptors. Although 2-aminoacetophenone (AAP) is the main chemical marker, an increase in AAP concentration does not necessarily result with the higher sensory expression of UTA. The goal of this study was to investigate the presence of UTA and the link between UTA olfactory perception and AAP concentration in Croatian wines. All the samples that were rejected due to the UTA in sensory testing during the certification procedure for the market during 2013 - 2017 were included in research. The relevant data of origin were analyzed to filter out potential factors of UTA appearance. Sensory analyses were performed with the „100 points“ and the „Yes/No“ methods, and AAP analyses were done by GC-MS. The appearance of UTA may be associated with the regional origin and extremely poor climatic conditions of a particular year. The results of AAP analyses corroborated the presence of UTA in all samples; the concentrations of AAP were 0.3 - 4.4 μg/L. A respective correlation between sensory recognition and the concentration of AAP was specified. This is the first study of sensory detection of UTA and the interconnection with 2-AAP in Croatian wines. The results indicate the need to detect as many volatiles as possible, to explain the difference in olfactory perception of this fault.

Keywords

• atypical aging off-flavour
• sensory recognition
• 2-aap
• croatian wines