GC-FID and GC-MS as a tool to screen the influence of wood ageing technologies in the brandies odourless and odourant compounds

摘要

The maturation of wine brandies in wooden barrels cause many sensory andphysicochemical changes in these alcoholic beverages, namely its flavour modification.Previous work (Caldeira et al. 2008) pointed out the most potent odourant compounds ofthe wine aged brandies. Some of these compounds proceed from the distillate and othersare extracted from the wood.In this study it was quantified, some odourless compounds, such as methanol and higheralcohols and several odorant compounds in brandies aged in presence of two types ofwood fragments (staves and tablets), from two different kinds of woods (Limousin oakwood and Portuguese chestnut wood), and compared with those found in the same withbrandy aged in wooden barrels. A taster panel have also profiled these brandies andevaluated their overall quality.The methanol and higher alcohols were quantified by GC-FID equipped with a fused silicacapillary column of polyethylene glycol according to the official method [NP 3263, 1990].The odorant compounds were quantified by GC-FID and identified by GC-MS.The results showed that the ageing system is the most discriminant factor, having asignificant effect on the level of several odourant compounds. The wood botanical speciesaffected few odourant compounds. The importance of odorant compounds was alsodemonstrated by the high linear correlations between their contents and the intensity ofseveral sensory attributes.The results show the possibility of using the chromatographic results as a tool todiscriminate brandies produced with different ageing technologies.