Evolution of volatile compounds, aroma attributes, and sensory perception in bottle-aged red wines and their correlation

This study aimed to investigate the evolution of volatile compounds, odor activity value-based aroma notes, and sensory perception in Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L. cv.) dry red wines during an 18-month bottle-aging period, and further to assess the correlation between them. The wines were sealed with six types of stoppers, including natural cork, agglomerated cork, technical cork, and three types of polymer synthetic plugs, to provide different oxygen environments during wine development. Results showed that volatile compounds in all of the wine samples exhibited three evolution trends during the bottle-aging process. Most of the volatiles followed the second evolution trend in which their concentration increased within the first 3–9 months of bottle aging, and subsequently declined. The wines bottle-aged within 9 months possessed obvious aroma characteristics, which resulted from the abundant volatile compounds in this period, in particular, the presence of esters and alcohols. The 15-month bottle-aged wines showed the highest sensory quality evolution, suggesting that this might be related to a good balance of various aroma attributes. Partial least squares regression analysis revealed that wine aroma could develop toward good perception with the increase in ethyl octanoate, 1-octen-3-ol, and ethyl dodecanoate. However, the increase in (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, 2-methoxy-phenol, decanal, isobutyric acid, octanoic acid, and isoamyl acetate resulted in a negative sensory feature of wine aroma.