Humans have a limited ability to identify odorants in mixtures even if they are above their threshold. Furthermore, and only a few odorants are required for people to recognize an object <i>. If we define Key Odorants (KOs) experimentally as the most potent odorants identified by gas chromatography - olfactometry (GC-O) then the top five in Sauvignon Blanc wine (SBW) would include 3-methyl-1-butanol (3M1B), isobutyl acetate (IA), ethyl butyrate (EB), oct-1-en-3-one, and 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (IBMP). These top 5 KO’s are between 10 and 40 times more potent than the rest and do not include compounds such as the 4-methyl-4-mercaptopentanone (4MMP, “boxwood”), and 3-mercaptohexanol (3MH, “passion fruit”), compounds known to be prominent descriptors of SBW in sensory tests. A possible explanation is that the interaction between component pairs of odorants either at the periphery or in the brain is idiosyncratic.<br/><br/>To determine the nature of the binary interactions of the major odorants in SBW we used sniff-olfactometry (SO) to measure detection probabilities for various SBW odorants starting with three of the most potent odorants: 3M1B with a “whisky” smell (distinctive chocking alcohol odor), IA with a “fruity/floral” odor and EB with a similar “fruity/apple” odor. We determined the detection probabilities in binary mixtures of each of the three pairs and compared them with mixtures of all three. The results will be discussed in terms of Sauvignon Blanc odor image. Preliminary finding make it clear that more than 4 odorants are required for experienced drinkers to recognize the mixture as SBW. Previous research has suggested that similar smelling odorants might have synergistic effects while dissimilar smelling odorants might suppress each other[ii].<br/>

Using sniff olfactometry to study Sauvignon Blanc odorant interactions

254th National Meeting (2017)

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