Study of Combined Effect of Proteins and Bentonite Fining on the Wine Aroma Loss

The wine aroma loss as a consequence of treatments with bentonite is due to the occurrence of multiple interaction mechanisms. In addition to a direct effect of bentonite, the removal of aroma compounds bound to protein components adsorbed by the clay has been hypothesized but never demonstrated. We studied the effect of bentonite addition on total wine aroma compounds (extracted from Moscato wine) in a model solution in the absence and presence of total and purified (thaumatin-like proteins and chitinase) wine proteins. The results showed that in general bentonite alone has a low effect on the loss of terpenes but removed ethyl esters and fatty acids. The presence of wine proteins in the solution treated with bentonite tended to increase the loss of esters with the longest carbon chains (from ethyl octanoate to ethyl decanoate), and this was significant when the purified proteins were used. The results here reported suggest that hydrophobicity can be one of the driving forces involved in the interaction of aromas with both bentonite and proteins.