Chiral Terpenes – Quantitation, Threshold Determination and Sensory Impact on Aromatic White Wines

The specific accomplishment of the last year for this project was the development of a quantitative method using MDGC to measure chiral terpenes in white wine. Two hundred and three white wine samples, Pinot Gris and Riesling with diverse residual sugars had been already collected from different places of origin all over the world. Wines were donated from top wine companies from New Zealand, New York, Australia, Germany, Oregon, Washington, France, to name a few. Fifteen chiral mono-terpene compounds were collected from head space solid phase micro-extraction coupled with multidimensional GC-MS with stable dilution isotope quantification analysis. Results for the Pinot Gris wines are presented in this report. In short here were difference sin chiral terpene content between the wines. Additional differentiation was established for place of origin of Pinot Gris wines based on chiral terpene content.