Aroma and terpenoid profile of Chardonnay clone 809: from berry to sparkling wine

Abstract

Clone selection is a viticultural practice applied to evaluate the behaviour and agronomic and flavour characteristics of a material in a determined environment to obtain wines with different aromatic attributes. The clones of the cultivar Chardonnay comprise aromatic and non-aromatic clones that can provide different sensorial qualities. This work aimed to evaluate the volatile compounds formed in clone 809 (aromatic) to produce a more aromatic sparkling wine in Serra da Mantiqueira (southeast Brazil) and compare it to clone 76 (non-aromatic) from the berry to the wine. The vineyards are in Caldas (Minas Gerais – Brazil) at the Agronomical Research Centre of Minas Gerais (EPAMIG), and the vinification was performed using the Champenoise method (18 months in sur lie). HS-SPME/GC-MS identified free volatile compounds in two consecutive seasons, 2017 and 2018, in grape, musts, base wines and sparkling wines. The number and abundance of monoterpenoid compounds in clone 809 were statistically significant compared to clone 76 for all sample steps. Multivariate and principal component analyses (PCA) made it possible to differentiate the base and sparkling wines by the clones in both vintages for the second component (16.8 %). Furthermore, the sparkling wines of clone 809 were discriminated for the third component (15.1 %) by the monoterpenes: α-terpineol, linalool, ß-myrcene, hotrienol, nerol oxide, and limonene. The data suggest that Chardonnay clone 809 can contribute to obtaining a sparkling wine with an additional floral and sweet character.

Keywords

• <i>Vitis vinifera</i>
• aromatic clone
• monoterpenoids
• PCA analysis
• HS-SPME
• GC-MS