Effect of maceration time and the addition of enzymes on the amino acid composition of musts and wines and its influence on wine aroma

The purpose of this work is to study the effect of maceration time (with and without pectolitic enzyme addition) on the concentrations of 18 amino acids found in must and wines of the Macabeo grape variety. The presence of enzymes had a significant effect on the relative composition of the amino acids. The maceration process, with or without enzymes, led to a decrease in amino acid content after 2 h of maceration. After 2 h the solid parts of the grape released amino acids into the must, with the maximum concentration reached after 6 h. A certain degree of correlation given by principal component analysis was observed between the concentration of valine, isoleucine and histidine present in the musts and the aromatic compounds in the wines related to the metabolism of the fatty acids (hexanoic acid, octanoic acid, ethyl octanoate, hexanoate and decanoate). For the wines, a high correlation was found between valine and isobutanol and a lower value for valine with isoamyl alcohol and beta-phenyl ethanol.