Role of carbonyl compounds in SO(2) binding phenomena in musts and wines from botrytized grapes.

Carbonyl compounds play an important role in musts from botrytized grapes. Some of them, such as glyoxal and methylglyoxal, may explain a considerable part of bindable SO(2). Others, such as 2- and 5-oxogluconic acids, produced by gluconic acid oxidation in proportions respectively from 2.5 per 1 play an interesting role as SO(2) binding indicator. Finally, the levels of some compounds such as dihydroxyacetone, 5-oxofructose, and delta-gluconolactone in balance with gluconic acid are well correlated with SO(2) binding powers and also explain a large part of the bindable SO(2) in musts. During alcoholic fermentation, only dihydroxyacetone among these three compounds is metabolized by yeast. Thus, two compounds present in grapes, delta-gluconolactone and 5-oxofructose, with three yeast SO(2)-binding byproducts, ethanal, pyruvic, and 2-oxoglutaric acids, explain much of the SO(2) binding power in wines from botrytized grapes.