Propiedades Organolépticas y Volátiles del Torrontés Riojano Espumante

Abstract

Torrontés Riojano is a signature Argentina’s white-wine grape varietal. The moderate acidity and floral aromas of this varietal, reminiscent of Muscat and Gewürtztraminer varietals, make Torrontés Riojano a valuable resource to prepare sparkling wine. We studied in this work the organoleptic characteristics of Torrontés Riojano sparkling wine prepared using bottle second fermentation and industrial yeast strain EC1118. The resulting sparkling wine, following an aging period of twelve-months, was subjected to comprehensive chemical, solid phase extraction and gas hromatography–mass spectrometry analyses for identification and quantification of relevant oenological metabolites. Volatile compoundswere quantified after adsorption and separate elution with dichloromethane from an Isolute ENV+ cartridge1. Compounds were identified by comparison of their linear retention indices (LRI) in the mass spectra with those from pure standards or reported in the literature2. In addition, a panel of fourteen expert assessors defined the sensory aroma properties on two randomly selected sparkling wines bottles. Panelists rated secondary and tertiary tier terms using a 10-point intensity scale3. Our results show that strain EC1118 was capable of completing secondary fermentation, resulting in non-defective sparkling wine that preserves the rich aromatic profiles recognized in Torrontés Riojanowines4. This work represents the first analysis of the chemical and sensory characteristics of the Torrontés Riojano sparkling wine.