Aroma compounds in wines from Malvasia aromatica di Candia

Malvasia aromatica di Candia (Vitis vinifera L.) is an Italian aromatic grapevine cultivated between Emilia Romagna and Lombardy regions. This grape has an aromatic intensity comparable to Muscat1, and it gives different type of wine: semi-sparkling, semi-dry or sweet wines and, more recently, dry or passito wines. In this study the evolution of aromatic compounds during the fermentation of semi-sparkling sweet and dry wine samples was studied. The extraction of free and glycosylated compounds was carried out by solid phase extraction onto C18-endcapped cartridges, while the detection was performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Fermentative and varietal compounds were detected, observing similar profiles for both wines. The former compounds showed an increasing trend during the fermentation process, while the latter showed an opposite trend. In particular, the decrease of glycosylated terpenoids during the fermentation does not entail a corresponding increase of free fraction2. These compounds can be converted into other different, or absorbed onto yeast cell wall, or else stripped away due to gas development. Free and glycosylated varietal component was characterized by a prevalence of diol 1, diol 2, geraniol and its derivatives. These compounds make different the aroma profiles of Malvasia aromatica wines from Muscat white ones. In fact, the latter are characterized by a prevalence of linalool and its derivatives. Considerable free and bound contents of citronellol were also detected as well as linalool and its derivatives. In addition, the presence of other free compounds such as C13-norisoprenoids and benzenoids was observed. The main identified fermentative compounds were higher alcohols and their acetates as well as medium-chain fatty acids and their corresponding ethyl esters. Knowledge acquired through this study are useful in order to characterize the wines obtained from Malvasia aromatica di Candia and set up variety-oriented wine making protocols