Behaviour of Volatile Compounds During Traditional Alembic Distillation of Fermented Muscat Blanc and Muškat Ruža Porečki Grape Marcs

Abstract

To investigate the behaviour of volatile compounds during a traditional alembic distillation, large numbers of important volatile compounds were identified and quantified by GC/MS and GC/FID analysis in different fractions of grape marc distillates made from two Muscat varieties. Generally, concentrations of terpenes, C₁₃-norisoprenoids, acids and particular waxy esters and aldehydes were found to increase, while concentrations of higher alcohols and the majority of fruity and flowery esters were found to decrease during distillation. Because of the abundance in odoriferous monoterpenes, utilization of the tail fraction as a raw material for re-distillation was considered appropriate.