Impact odorants and sensory profile of young red wines from four Galician (NW of Spain) traditional cultivars

Monovarietal red wines from Caíño da Terra, Caíño Longo, Caíño Bravo and Caíño Redondo grape varieties were analysed in order to determine the volatile composition in terms of fermentative compounds. The wines were also sensorially evaluated with the aim of defining their sensory profile based on the descriptive attributes provided by a panel. Significant analytical and sensorial differences were found among the four wine cultivars. The wine from the Caíño Redondo cultivar showed a lower content for the majority of the aromatic compounds, whereas wines from Caíño Longo and Caíño da Terra cultivars were the most aromatic ones with higher contents in ethyl esters and acetates. Odour activity values (OAV) for all volatile compounds identified were calculated and classified into seven odorant series, fruity, floral, sweet and fatty being the series with higher contribution to the aroma profile of the evaluated wines. Based on the individual odour thresholds, wines from Caíño Longo were the most aromatic, owing to the higher OAV values found for the majority of the volatiles analysed, mainly ethyl esters. Principal component analysis accounted for 81.19% of the variance, thus showing a good separation of the wine cultivars according to the volatile compounds. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling