Nineteen samples of commercial Galician orujo spirits were analyzed by gas chromatography and distinguished from one another on the basis of the concentrations of major volatile compounds (methanol, higher alcohols, esters, acetates, and aldehydes). The spirits were also sensorily analyzed to emphasize this differentiation and to establish a sensory profile as a function of the attributes defined by the tasters. The results show that the Galician orujo spirits present notably significant differences in the concentrations of 2-butanol, methanol, acetaldehyde, and ethyl lactate, whereas their ethylic esters contents are similar. Sensorily, the orujo spirits can be differentiated by taste but have similar characteristics of bouquet, the best of which are from the Godello variety. The descriptions employed to define the orujo spirits were herbaceous, floral, fruity, vegetal, alcohol, toasted, and "others". Floral and fruity were predominant in the Albariño orujo spirits; herbaceous was predominant in the plurivarietal orujo spirits, vegetal in the Godello spirits, and dried fruit or toasted in the Mencia spirits. The orujo spirits from Treixadura have the most diverse profile, with the participation of most of the attributes.

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Terpenes and C(13) norisoprenoids are among the most important aromatic compounds found in a volatile and nonvolatile form in grapes. Aromatic typicity of a spirit could be attributed to these compounds despite the very important presence of volatile compounds produced during alcoholic fermentation. In this study, following a solid phase extraction stage, the determination of the varietal aromatic compounds by gas chromatography was performed on 15 samples of Galician orujo spirits. The results show that significant differences (p < 0.05) exist in the concentrations of varietal aromatic compounds in Galician spirits obtained from different varieties of grapes. alpha-Ionona is the varietal aromatic compound that is most likely to contribute to the aroma of all of the spirits studied. The spirits from Catalan Roxo are the most aromatic, with floral and fruity nuances, while the spirits from Godello were the less aromatic group as far as the varietal compounds studied are concerned. Spirits from Mencia and Treixadura show a similar profile, but the former has a more intensive aroma due to beta-pinene, citronellol, and alpha-ionone. Albariño spirits stand out because of their profile that is marked by the contributions of eugenol and linalool.

SummaryAlbarifio and Loureira grapes were collected during maturation in 1998 and free and bound volatile compounds from the grapes were studied to estimate and compare their aromatic potential. After solid-phase extraction monoterpenols, norisoprenoids, terpenic hydrocarbons, and some alcohols were detected and quantified by GCwith FID.

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