Chase Lucas, Angelica Iobbi, and Elizabeth Tomasino*
*Oregon State University, 100 Wiegand Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331 (elizabeth.tomasino@oregonstate.edu)

Wines with tropical fruit aromas have become increasingly preferred by wine con­sumers. This increase in access to tropical aromas leads to greater interest in the aroma compounds that cause these tropical fruit aromas in wine. Previous work using microfermentations showed that higher fermentation temperatures and increased time on skins resulted in an increase in thiol and ester compounds postfermentation. The aim of this work was to scale up those microfermentations that successfully increased thiols and esters. Descriptive sensory analysis was conducted on these wines to determine the aroma profile associated with the thiol and ester content of the wines. Future work will evaluate consumer acceptance of these wines, as very little information is available linking tropical fruit aroma to consumer preference. Four treatments were tested at varying fermentation temperatures and skin contact times. A change in winemaking scale did not alter the pH, residual sugar, or alcohol of the wines. Postfiltration, thiol, ester and thiol precursor analysis will be conducted. Senso­ry analysis used check-all-that-apply (CATA) to determine the best attributes to focus on for descriptive analysis, followed by Just-About-Right (JAR) testing to determine the best training standards for the terms determined from CATA. Descriptive anal­ysis using trained panels was conducted to determine the intensity of the different aromas presented in the wines. Overall, this study will display if specific winemaking processes can significantly influence the tropical aroma of Chardonnay through in­creased levels of thiols and esters. Understanding the causes of tropical fruit aromas in wine and processes that alter these compounds is necessary to ensure winemakers can achieve tropical fruit quality consistently.

Funding Support: American Vineyard Foundation