Aromatic profiles of young wines from berries at different heights on grapevines

The differences among young wines from berries at 3 heights (fruit-zone 1 (FZ1): 140-200 cm above the ground; FZ2: 80-140 cm; FZ3: 20-80 cm) on Vitis vinifera L.cv Merlot and Chardonnay were assessed to evaluate the influence of berry-heights on the final wine quality. Stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (SBSE-GC/MS) was used to analyse the characteristics of wine aromas. The results revealed that berry-heights exert significant influence on ethyl octanoate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, and ethyl butanoate in various- FZ Merlot wines and beta-damascenone in the Chardonnay -FZ wines. As a result, FZ1 wines of Merlot are more aromatic than the other FZ wines and had the highest floral and fruity series intensity. For the Chardonnay wines, fruity and sweet series were highly intense in the FZ1 wines. The PCA results demonstrated a high degree of differences in the aroma of various- FZ wines of the 2 grape cultivars, especially the Merlot variety, which indicates a need to separate the berries from the different- FZs. These results suggest that wineries should consider the possibility of separating berries from different-heights to produce wines of distinctive quality. Furthermore, this knowledge about the volatile composition of young wines offers a means of evaluating the aroma potential of wines from berries taking into account their position along the vines.