Which Impact for β-Damascenone on Red Wines Aroma?

Abstract

beta-Damascenone, a C-13 norisoprenoid compound, is usually presented as an impact odorant in red wines. Its direct contribution to their aroma was investigated. Both free beta-damascenone and beta-damascenone precursors were isolated from various French red wines and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, revealing concentrations in the vicinity of 1 and 2 microg/L for free compounds and both forms, respectively. Gas chromatography-olfactometry analyses were also performed on dilutions of both red wine extracts and pure beta-damascenone. The very low detection threshold in olfactometry for this compound explains why it is found at the highest dilution factor in aroma extract dilution analysis methods. Moreover, determination of beta-damascenone's odor thresholds confirmed the huge importance of the matrix: beta-Damascenone is characterized by a very low perception threshold in hydroalcoholic solution as compared to red wine, where it is over 1000-fold higher. In hydroalcoholic solution, beta-damascenone enhanced fruity notes of ethyl cinnamate and caproate and masked the herbaceous aroma of IBMP. Globally, these results suggested that beta-damascenone has more an indirect than a direct impact on red wine aroma.

Origins of Grape and Wine Aroma. Part 1. Chemical Components and Viticultural Impacts

“…The combination of analytical and sensory methodologies has been particularly important in resolving effects of interactions of aroma compounds with the nonvolatile matrix (Pineau et al 2007, Robinson et al 2009, Sáenz-Navajas et al 2010) as well as with other volatile compounds (Atanasova et al 2005, Escudero et al 2007, Pineau et al 2009). These interactions may result in variations in the sensory character of the mixture due to perceptual enhancement and suppression effects as well as to physicochemical effects on volatility and release of the aroma compounds.…”

Origins of Grape and Wine Aroma. Part 2. Chemical and Sensory Analysis

“…This can be attributed to the fact that GC-O analysis essentially evaluates the aroma of the compounds individually and separate from the sample matrix. GC-O does not take into account the interaction effects that occur when aroma compound interact with the nonvolatile matrix (Pineau et al 2007, Robinson et al 2009, Sáenz-Navajas et al 2010, 2012 and with other volatile compounds (Atanasova et al 2005b, Escudero et al 2007, Pineau et al 2009). As discussed later, these interactions may result in variations in the sensory character of the mixture due to enhancement and suppression effects.…”

“…For example, using descriptive analysis, it has been shown that fruity aromas in wines can significantly mask vegetal characters in the wines (Hein et al 2009). Similarly, at low concentrations, β-damascenone has the ability to mask the herbaceous aroma associated with 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (Pineau et al 2007) while enhancing the berry fruit aromas in red wines (Escudero et al 2007, Pineau et al 2007). As noted in the above section, the aromas of wine blends exhibited suppressive and amplifying effects when the intensity of specific aroma attributes of the blends was compared to the original aroma of the monovarietal wines (Hopfer et al 2012a).…”

“…Recent sensory research has shown that ethanol suppresses the fruity notes in model wine solutions (Grosch 2001, Escudero et al 2007, Le Berre et al 2007, King et al 2013 due to the increased solubility of the volatiles when ethanol is present (Le Berre et al 2007, Robinson et al 2009) and to the inhibition of volatile compound odor activity by ethanol (Grosch 2001). For example, β-damascenone is recognized universally as a potent wine aroma compound (Skouroumounis and Sefton 2002, Pineau et al 2007, Sefton et al 2011; however, its reported aroma threshold varies from 2 to 13 ng/L in water (Buttery et al 1990, Czerny et al 2008, to 50 ng/L (Guth 1997a) in 10% aqueous ethanol, to 7000 ng/L in a red wine matrix (Pineau et al 2007). …”

The Aroma of Rojal Red Wines from La Mancha Region – Determination of Key Odorants

“…Floral and exotic fruit notes are attributed to -damascenone, and due to its low odour threshold it can have a great sensorial impact on wines (Guth, 1997). However, other authors attribute its importance to a potentiating role of the fruit aromas of other compounds, rather than -damascenone acting alone (Pineau et al, 2007).…”