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RESEARCH PRODUCT

La typicité d'une eau de vie de cognac : itinéraire technologique et lien au terroir

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description

Cognac spirits are made from the distillation of white wine, growing in a region delimitated into cru areas. According to the cru of origin of their wine, spirits are assumed to be typical, in a sensorial way. Then, physico-chemical and sensorial analysis were carried out in parallel in order to search for this supposed typicality of cru, in freshly distilled spirits such as in spirits after aging in oak barrels. A work of filiation of impact compounds in the wines was also done. No cru-specific compound was found and differences to put in evidence are thin. The cru effect was apparent only with selective sampling and specific methodology. Actually, several factors, such as distillation, are able to modify the aromatic composition of spirits so their sensorial perception, and seem higher to the cru effect and could masked its typicality. Moreover, the cru typicality seems to evolve over the time, between wine, freshly distilled and aged spirits. To conclude, the cru effect seems weak compared to other factors. It may be caused by various possible mixes, of the same molecules found in all samples. It would be due to an aromatic equilibrium between the concentrations of these molecules, which allows the sensorial typicality of samples to be expressed, according to their cru of origin.