The aroma and flavor of the wine are the result of various environmental, genetic and viticultural techniques. Ripe grapes contain the components that most influence the taste of wine, but post-harvest processes subtly modulate the flavors. The researcher Régis Gougeon and his team from the University of Burgundy in Dijon (France) have developed a molecular analysis technique that shows all the chemical interactions of the components that influence the taste of a wine. For this they have resorted to ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry, as reported today in the journal PNAS. The new method is so precise that it has allowed them to identify the specific forests in which the oaks grew before they were transformed into the barrels used to age certain French wines .
The authors suggest that the technique can identify the metabologeographic signature of various wines, which could be beneficial to winemakers and historians.
