Influence of several enzymatic treatments on aromatic composition of white wines

Albariño wines were treated enzymatically at industrial scale, and the effect of both aromatic extracting and clarifying enzymes on the aroma were evaluated and compared. A commercial enzyme (Endozym cultivar) was added during maceration to two musts; clarification enzyme (Depectil clarification) was added to other two wines after fermentation (control wines), and in other four wines were applied the both commercial enzymatic treatments (Endozym cultivar and Depectil clarification, or Rapidase Xpress and Depectil clarification). Volatile compounds were analysed by gas-chromatography (FID and mass spectrometric detection) and by sensory analysis. All the wines, independently of the type of enzyme, presented different aromatic characteristics in comparison to the control wines, above all the wines obtained from the enzyme applied during maceration which showed the highest contents in varietal compounds and in other desirable compounds, such as benzene derivatives, ethyl esters or phenylethyl acetate. The employ of maceration and clarification enzymes as a whole seemed not be suitable because this combination could be cancel the released aromas by the glycosidase enzyme during the pellicular contact. Principal component analysis of chemical data corroborated these effects, because a very clear and good differentiation was achieved between the wines treated only with the maceration enzymes (glycosidase activity) opposite to the wines subjected to the other enzymatic treatments. These results are also closely related to the sensory analysis, which indicated that the glycosidase enzymatic treatment seemed to be effective for the improvement of the aroma of Albariño wines.