The Impact of Wine Style and Sugar Addition in liqueur d’expedition (dosage) Solutions on Traditional Method Sparkling Wine Composition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of wine style and cane sugar addition in the liqueur d’expedition (dosage) solution on volatile aroma compounds (VOCs) in traditional method sparkling wine. There were 24 bottles of each treatment produced. Treatments were sparkling wine zero dosage (ZD); NV sparkling wine + sugar (BS); unoaked still Chardonnay wine + sugar (UC); Pinot noir 2009 sparkling wine + sugar (PN); Niagara produced Brandy + sugar (B) and Icewine (IW). The control treatment in the sensory analysis was an oaked still Chardonnay wine + sugar (OC) because the zero-dosage wine was not suitable for a difference test that compared wines with sugar to one without. Standard wine chemical parameters were analysed before disgorging and after liqueur d’expedition was added and included; pH, titratable acidity (TA g/L), alcohol (v/v %), residual sugar (RS g/L), free and total SO2 and total phenolics (A.U.). Volatile aroma compounds (VOCs) analysed by Headspace SolidPhase Micro-Extraction Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) included two alcohols, and six ethyl esters. ZD wines had the highest foam height and highest dissolved oxygen level. Sugar affected VOC concentrations in all treatments at five weeks post-disgorging, but by 15 weeks after liqueur d’expedition addition, the wine with added sugar had similar VOC concentrations to the ZD wines. The type of wines used in the dosage solutions had more influence on VOC concentrations than sugar addition.