Effect of antioxidants on the flavor characteristics and the gas chromatography/olfactometry profiles of champagne extracts

This paper aims to investigate the possibility of oxidation of the flavor active constituents of champagne wines during the critical steps of the extraction for analytical purposes and to estimate its consequences on the extract's aroma characteristics. The investigation uses conventional sensory and GC/O analyses. Triangle and similarity sensory tests carried out on champagne samples and on their extracts show that the absence of antioxidants implies a deterioration of the aroma quality. Conversely, the use of 2-tert-butyl-4-methoxyphenol (BHA) as antioxidant gives an extract with an odor judged to be more similar to the original odor of the champagne. The alteration in the odor of the unprotected extracts is explained, from GC/O and GC/MS analyses, as three types of uncontrolled reactions. These are, first, the chemical oxidation of the fusel alcohols and the amino acids; second, the oxidation of sensitive flavor compounds such as enolic lactones and monoterpenic alcohols; and, third, the hydrolysis of fatty acid esters and saturated gamma-lactones. A systematic use of BHA during flavor extraction is therefore advisable, in particular when oxidation phenomena such as wine aging are under study.