Chemical description and organoleptic evaluation of Pinot noir wines from different parts of Italy: a three year investigation

Abstract

Aim: this work gives a chemical description and sensory evaluation of several Pinot noir wines from different parts of Italy. For three subsequent years (2016-2018) the wine samples were submitted for in an Italian annual national Pinot noir competition aiming to define the best Pinot noir red wine from Italy. All of the wine samples were 3-years old (from vinification) at the moment they were analysed and evaluated; they were also registered for the competition the same year they were put on the market.Methods and results: all the wines were evaluated by a tasting panel composed of oenologists and wine experts, using the overall sensory quality as the descriptor. For the chemical screening, standard oenological chemical parameters (total acidity, colour, alcohol degree, total phenolic content, tannin indexes, etc.) and the content of the most abundant phenolic molecules by means of LC-MS analysis (triple quadrupole with internal standards) were determined. Pinot noir red wines produced from different parts of Italy showed a high variability for most standard wine chemical parameters considered, while the content of most single phenolic constituents was more retained and consistent with data from literature; except for t-resveratrol, which was significantly higher in our analyses, and delphinidin-3-glucoside, which was lower. Moreover, changes regarding the corresponding wines from the three vintages were noted. A correlation between the chemical parameters and the tasting panel results was also attempted. The results from a statistical analysis confirmed that alcoholic content, malvidin-3-glucoside and total anthocyanins had the highest positive impact on quality scores, while gallic acid, color tonality and total phenolic content had the highest negative.Conclusions: our results indicate that most wine producers have a conservative attitude with very slight differences found in the corresponding wines over the three years of investigation. The strong effects of agronomical, winemaking and ageing processes on chemical and sensorial features of Pinot noir red wines from Italy were also clearly shown. Compared to other monovarietal Pinot noir red wines from the same temperate area, single polyphenol content tended to be more retained than most standard chemical parameters.Significance and impact of the study: an overall quality assessment of a monovarietal wine, with its typicity as the main goal of a sensorial investigation, appears to be different from an objective quality assessment carried out by trained professional personnel using single standardised descriptors. Positive and negative correlations exist between sensorial judgement and chemical parameters, and the multiple linear regression model revealed relationships between the wine score and the set of the most important wine score description parameters.

LC–MS-Based Metabolomics Discriminates Premium from Standard Chilean cv. Cabernet Sauvignon Wines from Different Valleys

“…Sáenz-Navajas et al (2015), by using a targeted approach in red wines, associated overall quality with higher levels of volatiles compounds such as norisoprenoids and lower levels of whisky lactones and volatile phenols, whereas the non-volatile compounds with astringent properties showed no correlation with quality [18]. For Italian Pinot noir wines, a positive correlation with wine quality was found for caftaric acid, quercetin 3-glucuronide, and glycerol, whereas gallic acid and delphinidin 3-glucoside showed a negative contribution to the overall wine score [21]. A reliable insight on wine chemistry in relation to quality can be achieved by targeted methods and multivariate statistics, but due to the high complexity of the wine metabolome, this is a limited approach, because the relevant strategies miss a high number of metabolites.…”

“…Unraveling the association between the chemical composition (volatile compounds, non-volatile compounds, or both) of wine and its perceived quality is challenging and not straightforward. To pursue this objective, a few different targeted and untargeted research strategies and chemometric models have been implemented in wine research [8,10,[18][19][20][21]. Sáenz-Navajas et al (2015), by using a targeted approach in red wines, associated overall quality with higher levels of volatiles compounds such as norisoprenoids and lower levels of whisky lactones and volatile phenols, whereas the non-volatile compounds with astringent properties showed no correlation with quality [18].…”