Chemical Markers for Tracking the Sensory Contribution of Production Stages in Muscat Wine Distillates

The main sensory contribution of each post-fermentation production stage of muscat wine distillates can be tracked by following the concentration of just 1 corresponding chemical marker. Matching sample clusters of sensory and chemical data by using principal components analysis (PCA) revealed potential chemical markers. The data used in this study correspond to 12 sensory attributes that showed significant differences among products (P < 0.05) and concentrations of 23 volatile compounds of 14 distillate fractions and 15 finished Piscos. Artificial fruit attribute, characteristic of the head fraction (FR1) can be tracked with esters. Linalool, main odor attribute of the 1st part of the heart (FR2) can be tracked with linalool molecule. The 2nd part of the heart (FR3) can be tracked with octanoic acid, decanoic acid, furfural and ethyl lactate, accounting for tails attribute. In blended and aged finished products, chemical markers accounting for the effects of distillate fractions were similar but not identical to the markers from samples obtained from the purely distilled samples. Chemical markers for FR1 are ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate. Differentiation between FR1 and FR2 is less evident than in the purely distilled samples due to the linalool and artificial fruit attribute correlation. Chemical markers for FR2, therefore, include linalool and esters ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, and ethyl decanoate. The blending of the 2nd part of the heart (FR3) can be tracked with 2-phenylethanol, ethyl lactate, and decanoic acid. Oak aging was tracked with eugenol and whisky lactones, while 5-hydroxy-methyl-2-furfural accounted for added caramel.