Identification of Character Impact Compounds of Chardonnay Which Determine

Experiments have been conducted to optimize the Gas-Chromatograph – Olfactometry (GC-O) system. Peaks eluting from injection of headspace samples of wines were detected by sniffing. However further refinements of volatile collection protocols and of the GC-0 system are necessary to provide more sensitive “sniffing” of the eluting compounds. At present some volatiles detected by the flame ionization detector can be smelled by the judges, but many compounds detected by FID cannot be detectable by sniffing. It is recognized that some of these volatiles have no aroma, but the relatively low number of compounds which can be smelled indicate that an increase in the concentration of the volatiles or alternative optimization of the system to better focus the peak and reduce turbulence is needed. Alternative extraction/recovery methods are now being explored.