Bitter Taste of Higher Alcohols in Wine

Abstract

It was recognized that strongly bitter wines had a tendency to contain large amounts of isoamyl alcohol and small amounts of n-propyl alcohol in the white wines fermented by various yeast strains. Therefore, the bitter taste of these higher alcohols were studied by sensory tests using model wines. Strong bitter taste was pointed out on wine with low concentration of isoamyl alcohol (200 mg/l). In addition, wines containing more than 111 mg/l of n-propyl alcohol showed significant increase of body, but they also showed unpleasant taste because of excess n-propyl alcohol.