Unveiling the Evolution of Madeira Wine Key Metabolites: A Three-Year Follow-Up Study

Madeira wine (MW) encompasses an unusual oxidative ageing process that makes it distinctive. Several metabolites have been related to its quality and safety, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), furfural, sotolon, and ethyl carbamate (EC). These compounds were quantified over a three-year period to assess their formation rate according to the ageing procedure used: canteiro vs. estufagem. Estufagem, which includes thermal processing of young MWs, promoted greater HMF, furfural, and sotolon accumulation, especially in sweet wines, in which sotolon contributed significantly to aroma (odour active values up to 17.5). Tinta Negra revealed a higher predisposition to form EC while Malvasia and Sercial were less prone to its formation. The formation of furfural, HMF, and EC strongly correlated with the ageing time. Sotolon had a strong correlation with the ageing time in canteiro (r = 0.79) and a moderate correlation in estufagem (r = 0.65). In both ageing procedures, sotolon, furfural, and HMF formation trends strongly correlated with each other (r = 0.74–0.90). In turn, EC also correlated with all furans (r = 0.51–0.85). Yellow tones (b*) correlated with these metabolites only when wines undergo estufagem. This study provides valuable insights to improve MW quality and safety management procedures.

Impact of Indigenous Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts Isolated from Madeira Island Vineyards on the Formation of Ethyl Carbamate in the Aging of Fortified Wines

The impact of selected non-Saccharomyces yeasts on the occurrence of ethyl carbamate (EC) was evaluated. Hanseniaspora uvarum, Starmerella bacillaris, Pichia terricola, Pichia fermentans and Pichia kluyveri isolated from Madeira Island vineyards were inoculated in Tinta Negra musts. Urea, citrulline (Cit) and arginine (Arg) were quantified when the density of musts attained the levels to obtain sweet (1052 ± 5 g/L) and dry (1022 ± 4 g/L) Madeira wines. The urea concentration varied between 1.3 and 5.3 mg/L, Cit from 10.6 to 15.1 mg/L and Arg between 687 and 959 mg/L. P. terricola and S. bacillaris generated lower levels of urea (<2.5 mg/L), Cit (<11.0 mg/L) and Arg (<845.6 mg/L). The five resulting fortified wines, individually fermented by the selected non-Saccharomyces yeast, were exposed to laboratory-accelerated aging at 70 °C for 1 month. From the studied yeasts, P. terricola and S. bacillaris revealed a lower potential to form EC (<100 µg/L); therefore, both yeasts can be a useful tool for its mitigation in wines.

An Approach of the Madeira Wine Chemistry

Madeira wine is a fortified Portuguese wine, which has a crucial impact on the Madeira Island economy. The particular properties of Madeira wine result from the unique and specific winemaking and ageing processes that promote the occurrence of chemical reactions among acids, sugars, alcohols, and polyphenols, which are important to the extraordinary quality of the wine. These chemical reactions contribute to the appearance of novel compounds and/or the transformation of others, consequently promoting changes in qualitative and quantitative volatile and non-volatile composition. The current review comprises an overview of Madeira wines related to volatile (e.g., terpenes, norisoprenoids, alcohols, esters, fatty acids) and non-volatile composition (e.g., polyphenols, organic acids, amino acids, biogenic amines, and metals). Moreover, types of aroma compounds, the contribution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the overall Madeira wine aroma, the change of their content during the ageing process, as well as the establishment of the potential ageing markers will also be reviewed. The viability of several analytical methods (e.g., gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), two-dimensional gas chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-ToFMS)) combined with chemometrics tools (e.g., partial least squares regression (PLS-R), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was investigated to establish potential ageing markers to guarantee the Madeira wine authenticity. Acetals, furanic compounds, and lactones are the chemical families most commonly related with the ageing process.