ReviewA comprehensive review on Sauvignon blanc aroma with a focus on certain positive volatile thiols
Highlights
► Sauvignon blanc aroma review. ► Volatile thiol formation, precursors, oxidation, wine making effects. ► Other typical Sauvignon blanc aroma compounds. ► Further required research on thiols.
Introduction
Typical aroma of Sauvignon blanc wine can be described as vegetative, grassy, herbaceous, gooseberry, asparagus, green pepper, capsicum, tomato leaf, grapefruit and passion fruit (Swiegers, Francis, Herderich, & Pretorius, 2006). The aroma characteristics of Sauvignon blanc develop considerably during fermentation leading to very aromatic wines. Sauvignon blanc wines tend to be crisp and acidic on the palate and are often divided into two classes, “green” (vegetative, grassy, herbaceous, asparagus, green pepper, capsicum, tomato leaf) and “tropical” (gooseberry, grapefruit and passion fruit). In 1994, Marais published a review article on Sauvignon blanc aroma. This review focussed mainly on the effect of the methoxypyrazines responsible for the “green” character in Sauvignon blanc wines (Marais, 1994). The origin, precursors and development during winemaking of the aroma compounds responsible for some of the “tropical” flavour in Sauvignon blanc and other wines have only been recently established (Capone and Jeffery, 2011, Coetzee, 2011, Fedrizzi et al., 2009, Murat et al., 2001, Nikolantonaki et al., 2010, Roland, Cavelier, et al., 2011, Swiegers and Pretorius, 2007). This review will focus especially on one group of impact aroma compounds in Sauvignon blanc wines, the volatile thiols (also referred to as varietal thiols), of which recently a large amount new data has come to the fore. This data is summarised in Table 1 in a simplified manner and serves to elucidate the influence of different viticultural and oenological factors on the precursor concentration in die berries and must as well as the volatile thiol content in wine. These influencing factors as well as the origin and the reaction of these volatile thiols and some of their precursors to oxidation are also discussed in full in the review. Other compounds affecting Sauvignon blanc aroma such as methoxypyrazines, esters, higher alcohols, fatty acids and monoterpenes are also mentioned.
Section snippets
Thiol compounds
Volatile sulphur compounds in wine can be divided into two categories. On the one hand, certain volatile sulphur compounds may impart negative aromas, such as a rotten egg, which originate from the formation of H2S by wine yeast (Henschke and Jiranek, 1993, Rauhut, 1993). The production of secondary reductive odours can also contribute to negative off-odours described as cooked vegetables, onion and cabbage caused by sulphur containing compounds such as thioacetic acid esters and mercaptans and
Conclusions
Sauvignon blanc is a versatile grape variety which can deliver different styles of wines depending on the viticultural and oenological practices employed. This review gave an overview on some main volatile thiols impacting on Sauvignon blanc flavour. The origin and evolution of these compounds during winemaking was also discussed.
It is clear that volatile thiols play a critical role in the flavour of Sauvignon blanc, due to their extremely low perception threshold. Winemakers may use recent
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Winetech, Thrip and the NRF for financial support.
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2022, Food Research InternationalCitation Excerpt :From a varietal point of view, VTs were observed in at least one sample of each cultivar, implying that, in the context of Italian white wines, these compounds can be considered rather ubiquitous. Quantitative variations across cultivars, as well as within the same cultivar, were rather large, reflecting the complex array of factors that can determine the VTs content of wines, such as the pedoclimatic characteristics of the vineyard, the management of the winery pre-fermentative steps, the yeast strain used in fermentation, and the levels of oxygen exposure of the wines after fermentation and after bottling (Coetzee and du Toit, 2012). These results are in strong agreement with the observations by Mateo et.