ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS OF AROMAGRAMS OF CHARDONNAY BURGUNDY WINES

The flavours of 7 Chardonnay Burgundy wines, selected for their typica lity, were analysed by gas chromatography-olfactometry. The olfactive impact of 32 compounds (18 identified) was evaluated by their olfactom etric index. According to these indexes, the following compounds, list ed together with their odour descriptor, were found to be the most imp ortant: vanillin (vanilla), diacetyl (fresh butter), 4-vinylguaiacol ( curry-smoked), ethyl cinnamate (sherry stone), ethyl hexanoate (apple) , ethyl 2-methylbutanoate (grassy), ethyl butanoate (rancid cheese), g uaiacol (smoked-spiced), and 3 compounds still unidentified but exhibi ting odours described as burnt sugar, wet ashes and honey. The differe nces among wines together with the compound correlations were investig ated by principal component analysis; one of the conclusions was that the compounds listed above were not the best discriminators among the 7 wines.