Flavor Chemistry of Wine and Other Alcoholic Beverages

Aroma is one of the most important quality attributes for wine and many other alcoholic beverages. However, the chemical composition of most alcoholic beverages is so complex that it has always been a challenge for scientists to fully understand their flavor chemistry. The low concentration of key aroma compounds, such as thiols, the low sensory threshold of many important contributors to aroma and the interfering alcohol matrix make the accurate analysis extremely challenging. With the advance of analytcial instrumentation, particularly the greater accessibility of LC-MS, new insights about the flavor and flavor precursors in wine and alcoholic beverages has been achieved.

This book is derived from the American Chemical Society symposium "Flavor Chemistry of Alcoholic Beverages" held on August 22-26, 2010, in Boston, MA, with the purpose of sharing new information on the flavor chemistry of wine, beer, and other other alcoholic berverages. Participants of this symposium were scientists from both the academic and industrial scientific communities. A section of this book is devoted to the flavor and flavor precursors in wine grapes and their conversion in wine. This aspect is important because the origin of many unique aromas found in wine can be sourced directly to wine grapes. Since these aroma and aroma precursors are the secondary metabolites of plants, their biotransformation and accumulation are directly inflenced by environment and viticultural practice in the vineyeard.

Another significant portion focuses on aging processes during wine production. Aging is a dynamic process involving both volatile and nonvolatile compounds. During this process some compounds degrade, whereas other compounds form. Understanding these processes are of economic importance, particularly for wine since aging can be such a critical step in its production.

This symposium book is a unique volume that describes the advances in flavor chemistry research related to alcoholic beverages. It will be an excellent reference book for all scientists and professionals engaging in the research and development in the field of food and beverage flavoring and flavor ingredients.

Michael C. Qian and Thomas H. Shellhammer are both affliliated with Oregon State University.