Odorant active compounds in Amontillado wines obtained by combination of two consecutive ageing processes

The odorant activity of Amontillado sherry wines produced by combined biological-chemical ageing was compared to those of the others two types of wines obtained exclusively by biological and chemical ageing, respectively. A total of 16 odorant active compounds for three types of wines were classified according to their odour descriptors into 7 odorant series describing the aroma profile of the studied wines. Sotolon and eugenol were very powerful odorants for the wines, with Odorant Activity Values (OAVs) > 50. However, the results of the factor analysis performed on the 16 odorants indicate that the compounds most distinguishing the wines were acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate and eugenol. The spicy series prevailed in the Amontillado and the fruity series did in biological and chemical aged wines. Because biological ageing step in Amontillado wines is shorter than their chemical ageing, the results suggest that the former influences the aroma of Amontillado wine to a greater extent than does chemical ageing. Grouping the OAVs in odorant series allowed to compare the aroma profiles for the three types of wine and to estimate the "closeness" of Amontillado to aged wines by no combined process.