Understanding Grand and Wine Flavor Through Chemistry.
We use mass spectrometry to identify the volatile and non-volatile compounds responsible, trace their biosynthetic origins from vineyard to cellar, and measure how environment and production decisions shape what ends up in the glass.
Climate
Climate and environmental impacts
Develop validated analytical methods to quantify known and unknown smoke markers in grapes and wine
Evaluate the efficacy of barrier spray treatment to mitigate smoke taint in grapes and wine
Discovery
Identification of novel flavor-active metabolites
Discover and structurally characterize novel flavor-active compounds using targeted or non-targeted metabolomics and sensory-guided detection
Elucidate biosynthetic precursors and transformation pathways for key aroma compounds
Winemaking
Viticultural and enological effects
Quantify temporal changes in volatile composition during post-harvest storage and processing to optimize aroma expression
Define sulfur metabolite dynamics during oxidative and reductive aging to establish quality markers for wine aging
Terroir
Regional and varietal flavor characterization
Establish regional volatile signatures and terroir-specific metabolite markers for varietal characterization
Analytical Platforms
GC–MS/MS
- Terpenes
- Esters (ethyl and acetate esters)
- Higher alcohols
- Aldehydes and ketones
- Lactones
- Methoxypyrazines
- Volatile phenols
- Sulfur compounds
- Others
LC–MS/MS
- Glycosylated flavor precursors
- Varietal thiols
- Amino acids
- Organic acids
- Oxidation products
LC–HRMS (Orbitrap, Q-TOF)
- Unknown volatile and non-volatile metabolites
- Novel flavor compounds
- Degradation products
- Reaction intermediates
- Glycoconjugates
- Oxidation products
