The aroma of white wine is influenced by their storage conditions, such as temperature and time. In order to detail the chemical changes induced in Chardonnay white wines by these two factors, María Jesús Cejudo-Bastante, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Spain, and colleagues analyzed and compared the volatiles contained in conventionally stored, one-year stored, or heat-exposed wines.

The analysis revealed that a number of volatiles are affected by both the temperature and the storage time. Both conditions caused the formation of dioxanes, dioxolanes, and 1,2-dihydro-1,1,6-trimethylnaphtalene. They also caused the disappearance of some alcohols, terpenes, and furanic compounds. On the other hand, some volatiles, such as γ-butyrolactone, δ-decalactone, butyric acid, were present in higher amounts only in wine exposed to high temperatures. Solely in this condition, moreover, higher concentrations of alcohols, such as 2-methyl-1-propanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, (Z)-2-hexen-1-ol, and β-damascenone, were detected. Benzyl alcohol and 2-ethyl-2,4,5-trimethyl-1,3-dioxolane were, instead, exclusively affected by the storage time.

• Accelerated Aging against Conventional Storage: Effects on the Volatile Composition of Chardonnay White Wines,
  M.J. Cejudo-Bastante, I. Hermosín-Gutiérrez, M.S. Pérez-Coello,
  J. Food Sci. 2013.
  DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.12077