Local Wine Events

Women in Wine

by MICHAEL PALIJ MW AND DR RACHEL QUARRELL

Thursday 3rd February 2005

at Wolfson College, Oxford 7.30pm

Just how does a simple, juicy bunch of grapes turn into the complex and aromatic beast that we all know and love? Oxford-based Master of Wine, Michael Palij and Dr Rachel Quarrell, organic chemist and a tutor at Balliol and Lincoln Colleges, Oxford, explored the chemistry of wine aromas in a thought-provoking seminar.

The chemistry of wine flavour is complex and not entirely understood. The main components of wine can be listed as water (80%), alcohol, sugars, organic acids, phenols, polyphenols (20%) and “other”. This Masterclass detected and explained "the missing 1%", the trace amounts of hundreds of flavour molecules that give rise to such intriguing - and frustrating - diversity.

Many of the complex organic molecules which give wines their flavours and aromas - including cinnamaldehyde, piperonal, linanol and geraniol – can be made in the laboratory. We compared the aroma of these pure compounds with the ‘real thing’ and then considered the factors that influence their production. As flavours are derived not only from the primary grape constituents but also from those formed during the primary alcoholic fermentation, secondary bacterial fermentations and from subsequent maturation, all of these factors were explored.

It was in every way a sensational experience!

The following table is a summary of the wines and the volatile compounds found to be associated with them. No tasting notes on the wines themselves were made as this was not the object of the session.

Wine	Associated volatile compounds		Tasting notes/presence of volatile compounds
2003 Fattorie Morantico, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, Italy, 12.5%, RRP £3.99	N/A		These first two wines were used to locate the structural components of the wines on the tongue.
2003 Fattorie Morantico, Sangiovese ‘Borgiano’, Marche, Italy, 12%, RRP £3.99	N/A
2003 Goldwater, Sauvignon Blanc ‘New Dog’, Marlborough, New Zealand, 13.5%, RRP £9.99	Anisaldehyde Isobutylpyrazine Hexanol Trans-hexenal	J S C E	Clinical Wood preservative Medicinal Rancid glue	√ √
2000 Rolleston Vale, Reserve Chardonnay, SE Australia, 12%, RRP £4.99	Isoamyl acetate Vanillin Piperonal Isoamyl alcohol	R L I H	Uric acid – stables Incense/vanilla Spice Cleaning fluid	√ √ √
2003 Bouchard Pere, Fleurie AC, France, 13.5%, RRP £8.99	Benzaldehyde Cinnamaldehyde Vanillin Linalool Nerol	G Q L K P	Marzipan – almonds Cinnamon Vanilla Windolene – cleaning fluid Lemons	√ √ √
2003 Errazuriz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua, Chile, 14%, RRP £5.99	Vanillin Linalool Isobutylpyrazine Hexanol Trans-hexenal	L K S C E	Vanilla/incense Windolene – cleaning fluid Wood preservative Medicinal Rancid glue	√ √
NV Gonzalez Byass, Fino ‘Tio Pepe’, Jerez DO, Spain, 15%, RRP £8.49	Acetaldehyde Ethyl acetate	D B		√
NV Emilio Lustau, Moscatel de Chipiona, Jerez DO, Spain, 15%, RRP £4.99	Geraniol Phenyl ethyl alcohol Lemon terpene oil Beta-ionone	M F Z T	Geramiums Sickly scenty	√   (√)
Wine Faults	Acetic acid Acetaldehyde Amino acetophenone Isopropenyl acetate	A D O N	Musty

KH