Maximising aroma preservation in white and rose wines

摘要

All winemakers are concerned with quality, to greater or lesser extents within budget constraints. In terms of white winemaking, the appearance of the wine is secondary to the nose of the wine, so it is critical that a wine of quality be expressive ofboth varietal characters and terroir. For rose wines, both aroma and appearance are critical. For aromatic wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, which typically do not improve with bottle age, saleability relies heavily on freshness and maintenance of the wine's aroma profile. It is widely known that wine aroma changes over time, and that the first aromatic compounds to be lost are those that are most susceptible to oxidation, such as the volatile thiols in Sauvignon Blanc (and other varieties such as Riesling, Colombard, Gros Manseng and Verdelho), 4MMP, 3MH and, particularly, 3MHA (Figure 1, page 62; Bowyer et al, 2008).