Changes in the profile of volatile compounds in wines stored under oxygen and their relationship with the browning process

Eight young white wines produced in Aragon from Macabeo and Chardonnay grapes were stored under an oxygen atmosphere in the dark at room temperature. Changes in the colour and volatile compound composition were recorded over a period of 13 weeks. Significant changes in the volatile compound composition were detected through analysis of variance (ANOVA) of repeated measures, considering both grape variety and browning tendency as discriminant categories. The amounts of fatty acids and fermentation esters in the wine were significantly changed by the oxidative storage. Some of these changes can be attributed to acid-ester hydrolysis equilibria, but not others, such as the decrease in concentrations of octanoic and decanoic acids. The oxidative storage also affected most of the unsaturated fatty-acid-derived compounds: trans-2-octenal, trans-2-nonenal, trans-2-decenal and 1-octen-3-ol were all found to increase in the first stages of storage, while hexanol decreased slightly. Volatile phenols behaved very differently: while phenol and 4-ethylphenol initially increased and later decreased, eugenol increased through the process and 4-vinyl-guaiacol disappeared. Benzaldehyde and furfural increased while methionol and terpenols disappeared. Only furfural was found to be linked with the tendency of the wine to brown, while only linalool and benzaldehyde were found to be linked whith the grape variety. The levels of some odorants previously isolated by sniffing detection were temptatively monitored, and significant changes in their concentrations were found to occur during the process.