Volatile compounds play a key role on wine quality due to their importance in wine aroma. The improvement of these
compounds in Cabernet Sauvignon wines may be of oenological relevance because these are usually defined by strong
character and somewhat herbaceous. The effect of different foliar N applications on ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapevines
(
Vitis vinifera
L.) was studied in order to improve wine volatile composition. Five treatments were applied: urea (Ur),
urea plus sulfur (Ur+S), arginine (Arg), and two commercial products: Nutrimyr Thiols (NT) and Basfoliar Algae (BA).
Volatile compounds were analyzed by GC-MS. Results showed that wines elaborated with grapes treated with arginine
(Arg) exhibited the lowest content of total higher alcohols (322.29 mg L
-1). Wine concentrations of ethyl hexanoate,
octanoate, and decanoate from Ur+S and BA treatments were the highest (385.28, 590.46, 214.14, and 416.00, 600.50,
227.96 μg L
-1, respectively). No effects were found on vanillin derivatives content in wines by foliar treatments. Total
terpenes content in wines from Ur and Arg grapevine treatments were higher than in control (17.87 and 20.36 μg L
-1 than
14.99 μg L
-1). Thus, N foliar applications can improve wine volatile composition, mainly by Ur+S and BA treatments.
The importance of this study is to add knowledge about the effects of foliar N applications on Cabernet Sauvignon wine
volatile composition in warm climates.
