Abstract: To investigate the effect of wine grape shriveling on its own quality and that of the resulting wine, we detected the key chemical components of normal and shriveled ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grapes and their mixture as well as in the wine produced from each sample. The results demonstrated that berry shriveling significantly increased sugar and acid contents, but decreased the levels of anthocyanins in both the grapes and the resulting wines. Berry shriveling also decreased monomeric phenol contents in the grapes but increased the types and contents of monomeric phenols in the wines. Compared to the wine produced from normal grapes, the wine produced from shriveled grapes contained significantly higher levels of ethyl acetate, acetic acid, 1-hexanol, benzyl alcohol and (E)-3-hexen-1-ol, which give the wine a stronger balsam-like, fresh fruit-like and preserved fruit-like flavor. Notably, the wine produced from the mixed sample contained significantly higher levels of 2,3-butanedione, benzaldehyde, ethyl octanoate, (Z)-2-hexen-1-ol and 1-dodecanol, emitting a strong creamy and flowery aroma.

Key words: berry shriveling; Cabernet Sauvignon; grape; wine; quality