The SIFT-MS fingerprint of <i>Vitis vinifera</i> L. cv. Syrah berries is stable over the second part of maturation under warm conditions of climate

Abstract

Wine grape breeding for fungal resistance has been very dynamic worldwide over the last decade. The quick phenotyping of genotype quality traits, including aroma composition, remains challenging. Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) could be particularly valuable for this usage. Due to the high number of seedlings to phenotype and the low availability of berries, the sampling strategy can hardly rely on time-consuming destructive methods such as the measurement of classical maturity parameters (i.e., sugar concentration). To investigate the impact of the sampling time on the SIFT-MS fingerprint, berries from Vitis vinifera L. Syrah were collected in 2020, a season characterised by warm climatic conditions, at seven times during maturation and analysed by SIFT-MS using O2+ as reagent ion. This fingerprint has proved to be stable from 28 days after mid-veraison. This finding greatly simplifies the sampling procedure for future berry phenotyping, which can only rely on non-destructive data (lapse of time after mid-veraison date). For most m/z, a decrease in abundance was observed during the maturation, which could be the consequence of volatile emission or an increase in non-detectable bound compounds. Further studies would be necessary to assess the full grape aroma potential, to better understand the mechanisms involved, and to evaluate our approach over more than one season.

Advances in the Application of Direct Injection Mass Spectrometry Techniques to the Analysis of Grape, Wine and Other Alcoholic Beverages

“…The DIMS approach can also be used to measure the headspace of intact berries throughout the ripening process, thus providing useful indicators of 'aromatic' maturity to be used to complement more classic measurements, such as total acidity and sugar content. When SIFT-MS or SESI-MS were used to monitor the ripening of different grape varieties, most mass peaks showed a downward trend, possibly indicative of the fact that volatile compounds are being progressively converted into non-volatile aroma precursors [23,24].…”