Determination of terpene alcohols in Sicilian Muscat wines by HS-SPME-GC-MS

Abstract

Muscat is a grape family used to obtain several sweet, aromatic white dessert wines common in the Mediterranean area. Currently, three Sicilian cultivars (all classified DOC) are known: ‘Moscato di Siracusa’ the oldest and very rare today; ‘Moscato di Noto’, a modern derivative of the first and finally ‘Moscato di Pantelleria’, now the most common. This study concerns the volatile profile of 15 different Sicilian Muscat wines produced in different years using HS-SPME-GC-MS. In particular, four fundamental terpene alcohols (linalool, geraniol, nerol and citronellol) were considered. The principal aim was to study the evolution of aromatic compounds in wine during aging, and the information obtained is useful for production and marketing. It was found that the amount of terpenes decreased with aging, thereby reducing the quality characteristic of these wines. An accurate analysis of chromatograms could characterise Muscat wines on the basis of geographic origin.

Keywords:

• Muscat wines
• terpenes
• HS-SPME
• GC/MS

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the University of Palermo (Fondi di ricerca scientifica ex 60%, 2007) for financial support.