Floral aroma improvement of Muscat spirits by packed column distillation with variable internal reflux

Abstract

The organoleptic quality of wine distillates depends on raw materials and the distillation process.Previous work has shown that rectification columns in batch distillation with fixed reflux rate are usefulto obtain distillates or distillate fractions with enhanced organoleptic characteristics. This study exploresvariable reflux rate operating strategies to increase the levels of terpenic compounds in specific distillatefractions to emphasize its floral aroma. Based on chemical and sensory analyses, two distillate heartsub-fractions obtained with the best operating strategy found, were compared with a distillate obtainedin a traditional alembic. Results have shown that a drastic reduction of the reflux rate at an early stage ofthe heart cut produced a distillate heart sub-fraction with a higher concentration of terpenic compoundsand lower levels of negative aroma compounds. Therefore, this sub-fraction presented a much morenoticeable floral aroma than the distillate obtained with a traditional alembic.