Wine Flavour Chemistry

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Michael Descamps — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:33:30 GMT

What a fantastic article! It brings me back to all the Organic Chem and Biochemistry I took in college. So much more fun when the subject in question is wine and not some random solvent I won't ever use!

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Jamie Goode — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:17:24 GMT

Thanks all for your comments, and for the questions, which I'll try to address in a future piece.

Davis - thanks for the tip on Chartier, will look him up

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Davis Anderson III — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:35:48 GMT

Jamie, yesterday I met Francois Chartier who wrote the book - Tastebuds and Molecules. Are you familiar with it. His work sounds very much in line with your own. If you're unfamiliar, I highly recommend looking him up.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Kevin Arndt — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 07:09:16 GMT

A well thought out and well written article that was very informative. Thank you

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Christopher John — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:56:31 GMT

Argument for lower alcohol wines:

The influence of alcohol (ethanol) is quite strong. Ethanol has been shown to modify the solubility of many of the aroma compounds, and makes them more reticent to leave the solution, thus making the wine less aromatic.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Patrick Miner — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:39:25 GMT

This is a great article and I am looking forward to what comes of future experiments in this field. The last part about everyone having different sensory thresholds for different aromatic chemicals is at the same time troubling and freeing in regards to blind tasting. Everyone, or almost everyone, on this site is concerned about their ability to blind taste, and it is only natural to worry about your own thresholds in this respect. However, I think it is important to remember that there are plenty of other pieces to the blind evaluation equation, and your mind, your ability to deduce, is just as important as your palette. Also I think the latter part of this article puts the focus, rightfully, on the individual interaction with wine and creating a sensory context over time. I think it is very interesting and often helpful to read through lists of varietal markers, but it is probably far to easy to fall into a trap where studying these lists becomes more important than actual time spent with wine. My own, limited, experience with blind tasting has been frequently uncomfortable and produced very uneven results. Even more frustrating is the conversation afterwards where I seemingly "missed" important markers that other people in the group picked up on. I think these conversations can be important, and certainly everyone feels lost at different points in blind tastings--we shouldn't be fixed on results alone. What is liberating is the knowledge that I need to be working to an extent on "what Syrah tastes like to me," rather than what Syrah tastes like.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Davis Anderson III — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:10:45 GMT

Jamie,

As both a wine lover and a science geek, I love the piece.

I was wondering if you could answer, from a chemical point of view, why it is that some spirits (i.e. wine, beer) can improve and then deteriorate in the bottle overtime and others (i.e. a 12 year old bottle of scotch) won't improve and/or deteriorate in the bottle over time. Does it come down to alcohol level? Or is that just a piece of the puzzle.

Always been curious. If you don't have the time to answer, but you could point me in the direction of a source for the answer, I'd love to hear it. Thanks.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Jaci Kajfasz — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 07:29:35 GMT

thank you! tools for trade... please keep writing.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Sydney Paris — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:21:22 GMT

Bravo Jamie!!

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Greg Rivera — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 15:23:32 GMT

Excellent article and interesting observations regarding the ability (or lack of) smelling all these different compounds. Rotundone? Imagine the consequences when an individual can not smell this compound and possibly another, which together would help him/her identify the wine as Syrah versus another varietal on a blind tasting?

As such, we should consider how we are teaching and/or practicing blind tasting, as it is an essential skill that must be mastered to be successful in the certification process of our chosen profession. I hope to read more from jamie in the near future. Thanks.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

John Jung — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 22:12:49 GMT

Wonderful article, would love to hear more

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Nichole Dishman — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:22:24 GMT

Jamie,

Great article. I look forward to more of this viewpoint. I know that methoxypyrazine is inherent to certain Bordeaux grapes and that it decreases during ripening through grape exposure to sunlight. I heard from a winery owner recently about perception of rotundone as pepper being associated with cool climate syrah. What is the mechanism for its decrease in warm climates - is it actually temperature or is it also sunlight exposure? Thank you.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Christopher Hoel — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:58:43 GMT

As amazing as this article is we must not for forget the statement that the interaction between the wine and the taster has a huge influence on the final outcome and ultimately the perception of the wine. At the end of the day you have to ask yourself... Do you like the wine or not?

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

David Kristiansen — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:10:02 GMT

Thank you for posting this here. A compelling piece of information. This really helps in looking at the big picture on what we are truly tasting, albeit killing the romance and capriciousness of the undertaking.

So I suppose blind tasting at The Master level in 20 years will be more like,

Sauvignon Blanc= Primary notes of Polyfunctional Thiols, such as 4MMP with background notes of 3MHA. Secondary aromas of Methoxypyrazene such as 2-isopropyl, or is it 3-isopropyl...DOH.

RE: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Chris Walter — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:15:07 GMT

Great article! Settles a few different debates we've had going at work and provides a few interesting tidbits that I'm sure most our customers will enjoy.