The objective of this work was to study the correlation between the variation of phenolic compounds and sensory characteristics in white wine during bottle storage and to explore the compounds that affected sensory evolution. Chardonnay (Vitis vinifera L. cv.) dry white wines were bottled under six types of stoppers and stored for 18 months. The composition of phenolic compounds was analyzed, and the sensory attributes of these wines were evaluated by professional panel. Multivariate statistical analysis demonstrated that bottle aging period exhibited a more important effect on phenolic compound evolution than stopper type. Most of the phenolic compounds disappeared after 18 months of bottle storage, whereas the wine sensory attributes were significantly improved after 15-month of bottle aging. No strong correlation existed between the phenolic variation and the dissolved oxygen content. Wine color characteristics developed towards better quality accompanying with the reduction of detectable hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives and flavan-3-ols, while the wine mouth-feel was related mainly to gallic acid and ferulic acid ester. This work provided some references for wine producers to select appropriate storage duration for bottled white wine.

This study aimed to investigate the evolution of volatile compounds, odor activity value-based aroma notes, and sensory perception in Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L. cv.) dry red wines during an 18-month bottle-aging period, and further to assess the correlation between them. The wines were sealed with six types of stoppers, including natural cork, agglomerated cork, technical cork, and three types of polymer synthetic plugs, to provide different oxygen environments during wine development. Results showed that volatile compounds in all of the wine samples exhibited three evolution trends during the bottle-aging process. Most of the volatiles followed the second evolution trend in which their concentration increased within the first 3–9 months of bottle aging, and subsequently declined. The wines bottle-aged within 9 months possessed obvious aroma characteristics, which resulted from the abundant volatile compounds in this period, in particular, the presence of esters and alcohols. The 15-month bottle-aged wines showed the highest sensory quality evolution, suggesting that this might be related to a good balance of various aroma attributes. Partial least squares regression analysis revealed that wine aroma could develop toward good perception with the increase in ethyl octanoate, 1-octen-3-ol, and ethyl dodecanoate. However, the increase in (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, 2-methoxy-phenol, decanal, isobutyric acid, octanoic acid, and isoamyl acetate resulted in a negative sensory feature of wine aroma.

•Show four evolution patterns of phenols in red wine during aging in bottle.•Assess co-development between phenols and properties of appearance & mouthfeel.•Screen out compounds closely related to development of wine sensory in bottle.This study aimed to assess the correspondence between the evolution of phenolic compounds and the development of appearance and mouthfeel in Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L. cv.) dry red wines during 18-month aging in bottle. The wines were sealed with six types of bottle stoppers. The results showed that phenolic compounds presented four evolution patterns along with wine aging in bottle, mainly depending on their chemical nature. Most of the anthocyanins had significant differences in concentration amongst the wines sealed with the six bottle stoppers at the 18-month point. Analysis of partial least squares (PLS) revealed that wine appearance quality was positively correlated with the levels of malvidin-3-O-(6-O-acetyl)-glucoside-4-vinylguaiacol, gallocatechin and dihydrokaempferol-3-O-rhamnos, while the development of mouthfeel properties was positively associated with the evolutions of malvidin-3-O-glucoside-ethyl-(epi)catechin, peonidin-3-O-(6-O-acetyl)-glucoside, malvidin-3-O-(6-O-coumaryl)-glucoside-pyruvic acid and peonidin-3-O-glucoside-4-vinylphenol. No obvious association was observed between the development of wine sensory characteristics and the evolution of dissolved oxygen in wine.

It has been widely accepted that anthocyanidin 3,5-O-diglucosides do not exist in Vitis vinifera L. Cabernet Sauvignon (CS) berries. However, our anthocyanin analyses using HPLC–ESI-MS/MS detected the existence of a low level of anthocyanidin 3,5-O-diglucosides in the Cabernet Sauvignon grape berries grown in China. The authenticity of these samples was confirmed with microsatellite markers. The existence of anthocyanidin 3,5-O-diglucoside was further verified by the enzymatic evidence for the first time. Four putative 5-O-glucosyltransferase (5GT) genes were isolated from the Cabernet Sauvignon berries. The enzymatic analysis showed that a recombinant protein (designated as Vv5GT3) glucosylated the 3-O- and 5-O-positions of anthocyanidins and flavonols. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that this bifunctional enzyme belongs to the 5GT subfamily of UDP-glycosyltransferases. This finding brought a new understanding of the anthocyanins’ profile and their biosynthesis in V. vinifera and would be helpful for further investigations of the mechanism of accumulation of anthocyanidin diglucosides in Cabernet Sauvignon berries in China’s wine-producing regions.

Organic acids play a primary role in defining grape flavor and wine organoleptic properties. China-originated grape species contain high level acid, which limits to a certain extent, the marketing of fruits and their processing products. The objective of this study is to compare the changes of four organic acids along with grape berry development in cultivars native to China and Europe as well as some hybrids, and to preliminarily ascertain the reason for the high acid concentration in Chinese species. The results indicate that although the variation of titratable acidity during berry development strongly correlates with malic acid, the most significant difference amongst species at harvest lay in the concentration of tartaric acid. The Chinese-type species, V. quinquangularis, V. davidi and V. amurensis, contained higher levels of tartaric acid than European species. But this difference could be narrowed by interspecific hybridization. L-IdnDH, a key enzyme involved in tartaric acid synthesis, presented high homology in amino acid sequence for these species. Grape species with high level of tartaric acid did not have high transcript abundance of L-IdnDH (XM_002267626.2 and NM_001280954.1), but showed a slower decline in L-IdnDH amount during berry development.

Evolution of volatile components during litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) winemaking was monitored, and aroma profiles of litchi wines bottle aged for 5 months at ambient temperature (25−28 °C) and low temperature (8−10 °C) were compared via headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The majority of terpenoids deriving from litchi juice decreased, even disappeared along with alcoholic fermentation, while terpenol oxides, ethers, and acetates came into being and increased. Ethyl octanote, isoamyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl butanoate, cis-rose oxide, and trans-rose oxide had the highest odor activity values (OAVs) in young litchi wines. Six aromatic series were obtained by grouping OAVs of odor-active compounds with similar odor descriptions to establish the aroma profile for young litchi wines, and floral and fruity attributes were two major aroma series. Compared to ambient temperature when bottle aging, lower temperature benefited key aroma retention and expectantly extended the shelf life of young litchi wines.