title: Floral aroma improvement of Muscat spirits by packed column distillation with variable internal reflux.
abstract: The organoleptic quality of wine distillates depends on raw materials and the distillation process. Previous work has shown that rectification columns in batch distillation with fixed reflux rate are useful to obtain distillates or distillate fractions with enhanced organoleptic characteristics. This study explores variable reflux rate operating strategies to increase the levels of terpenic compounds in specific distillate fractions to emphasize its floral aroma. Based on chemical and sensory analyses, two distillate heart sub-fractions obtained with the best operating strategy found, were compared with a distillate obtained in a traditional alembic. Results have shown that a drastic reduction of the reflux rate at an early stage of the heart cut produced a distillate heart sub-fraction with a higher concentration of terpenic compounds and lower levels of negative aroma compounds. Therefore, this sub-fraction presented a much more noticeable floral aroma than the distillate obtained with a traditional alembic.
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Facultat d'Enologia, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Pau
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matias-Guiu
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Facultat d'Enologia, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain. Electronic address: jrbencomo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Bencomo
authors.affiliation: Estación Enológica de Galicia, Ponte San Clodio - Leiro, 32427 Leiro, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Orriols
authors.affiliation: ASIS, Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Bioprocesos, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile.
authors.forename: José Ricardo
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Pérez-Correa
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Facultat d'Enologia, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: López
mesh_terms: D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000032:analysis*; D057168:Distillation / Q000379:methods*; D005632:Fructose / Q000737:chemistry; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D013729:Terpenes / Q000737:chemistry; D027843:Vitis / Q000378:metabolism; D014920:Wine / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D013729:Terpenes; D005632:Fructose; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Muscat; Packed column; Terpenic compounds; Volatile compounds; Wine spirit