The sensory impressions perceived during wine consumption result from the simultaneous stimulation of our senses. Although a wine is initially assessed by its visual appearance and bouquet, the bitter taste and the astringent oral sensation are important contributors to the sensory quality of wines. Aimed at identifying the key molecules driving the attractive taste of a red wine, a screening technique called taste dilution analysis was applied to a red wine and a total number of 37 compounds was isolated and characterized. Quantitative studies in combination with taste reconstitution and omission experiments demonstrated that besides the low-molecular weight compounds a structurally undefined high molecular weight fraction was important for the overall astringency. Gel permeation chromatography, alkaline treatment, acidic hydrolysis, and thiolytic depolymerization, respectively, followed by compositional analysis demonstrated these taste-active polymers to be made up by diversely substituted flavan-3-ol derivatives, carbohydrates, phenylpropenoic acids, hydroxylated benzoic acids, and anthocyanins.

Decoding the taste of wine by combining analytical chemistry and sensory evaluation

245th National Meeting (2013)

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