Main odorants in Jura flor-sherry wines. Relative contributions of sotolon, abhexon, and theaspirane-derived compounds

The aromatic profile of Jura flor-sherry wines (also called “yellow wines”) has been little studied. Only acetaldehyde, diethoxy-1,1-ethane, and sotolon have been described as key odorants. In the present work, three wines (vintages 2002 and 2003) were investigated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC-O) aroma extract dilution analysis. The goal was to assess the relative impact of varietal, fermentation, and oak-barrel compounds by using two complementary extraction procedures. No grape terpenoids were found after the long barrel aging (6 years and 3 months). On the other hand, two candy/fruity esters issued from yeast exhibited high flavor dilution factor (FD) values: ethyl isobutyrate (64–1024) and ethyl isovalerate (128–1024). As expected, many oak-related odorants were found in the XAD 2 flavor extracts, mainly homofuraneol [2-ethyl-4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone] (cotton candy, FD = 16–256) and cis-β-methyloctalactone (butter, woody, FD = 256). Most probably issued from oxidation of the grape constituent theaspirane, an exceptional grenadine odor was perceived by GC-O up to dilution 64–1024. Chemical oxidation experiments and GC–high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) allowed us to identify it as 4-hydroxy-7,8-dihydro-β-ionone (RICPsil5CB = 1373), a hydrolysis-derived product of dihydrodehydro-β-ionone. With an extraction dedicated to hydrophilic compounds, the key role of sotolon was confirmed (112–387 μg/kg; FD = 256–1024). This procedure enabled us to also evidence its ethyl analogue, abhexon (31–74 μg/kg; FD = 64–256).