Assessment of volatile and sensory profiles between base and sparkling wines.

This paper focuses on the study of the volatile, olfactometric, and sensory composition of base wines and their corresponding sparkling wines (14-24 months aging) obtained at semi-industrial scale during three consecutive harvests. The sensory profile of sparkling wine is more complex than that of base wine, with toasty, lactic, sweet, and yeasty notes being described by the panelists and an even sharper increase of these tastes in the cava reserve. On the other hand, during the second fermentation and subsequent aging in contact with lees, some compounds such as acetate and ethyl esters decrease in amount while others such as norisoprenoids, acetal, diacetyl, and furans appear or increase over time. These volatile compounds could be responsible for the sensory profile depending on their notes, as determined by sniffing. The differences in volatile composition are responsible for the changes observed in the sensory profile of cava with respect to base wine.