Compounds Responsible for Wine Defects

COMPOUNDS RESPONSIBLE FOR WINE DEFECTS OTA, TCA AND TBA, GEOSMIN, 1-OCTEN-3-ONE, 2-METHOXY-3,5- 

DIMETHYLPYRAZINE, BIOGENIC AMINES, ETHYL CARBAMATE, GERANIUM , AND MOUSY TAINTS 

Food contaminants can be defined as compounds dangerous to consumer health or that affect the organoleptic characteristics of the product. This chapter presents the principal contaminants of grapes and wines, and the MS methods for their detection. 

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MI261 10MI268 J.A. Baur, Mech. Aging Den, 131,261-269 (2010). R. Flamini and R Traldi, Mass Spectrometry in Wine and Grape, Chapter 8, Compounds Responsible for Wine Defects Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp. 268 ff (2010). 

Finally, another defect well known to winemakers is the premature aging of bottled white wines. Although this has been associated with oxidative development, it has not been fully explained by enologists. This defect can affect any type of white wine, dry or sweet, still or sparkling, and whatever the grape variety or origin. It leads to the early disappearance of varietal aromas, the absence of reduction bouquet and, above all, the appearance of a characteristic, heavy smell, reminiscent of rancid beeswax, stale honey and, in extreme cases, naphthalene. Neither the compounds responsible for these odors, nor the mechanisms that produce them, nor the means of preventing this phenomenon, have yet been elucidated. 

Some compounds from wood may induce defects to the wine. Carbonyl compounds, such as ( )-2-nonenal, ( )-2-octenal, 3-octen-l-one, and 1-decanal are responsible for the sawdust smell sometimes found in the wine after ageing in new 225-L oak wood barrels (bar-riques) ( )-2-nonenal is reputed as being mainly responsible for the sawdust smell of wine (Chatonnet and Dubourdieu, 1998). 

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