Analysis and Formation of Key Sulfur Aroma Compounds in Wine

Identification and measurement of sulfur aroma compounds to better describe wine quality and style has been of significant importance to researchers and wine producers for many years. This necessarily requires the development of analytical methods to robustly quantify labile sulfur compounds at trace concentrations. With the ever-growing importance of screwcaps and other alternatives to cork closures, additional focus is on characterizing and minimizing 'reduced characters' during bottle storage. There is also a need to better understand the roles of must composition, yeast nutrients, yeast sulfur metabolism and copper fining in controlling sulfur aroma compounds. This paper explores how static headspace GC analysis of volatile sulfur compounds with cool-on-column injection and SCD detection has been optimized and applied for studies requiring direct analysis of fermentation-derived sulfur aroma compounds, such as H2S, DMS, CS2 and methanethiol.