Comprehensive study of chemical and sensory profiles of hawthorn wines from China

Hawthorn wine has gained increasing popularity in China, but comprehensive research on its sensory and chemical characteristics is still limited. This study established a sensory lexicon using Pivot Profile to describe and differentiate Chinese hawthorn wines. Based on the sensory data, 13 hawthorn wines presented three different styles, namely 'Sweet', 'Fruity' and 'Alcohol'. A total of 129 volatile compounds were identified and quantified in all hawthorn wines using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with both gas chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (GC-Orbitrap-MS) and gas chromatography-Quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-Quadrupole-MS). Partial least-squares regression revealed that 'sweet', 'hawthorn', and 'honey' attributes were positively correlated with several terpenes, volatile phenols, lactones, ethyl cinnamate, nonanal and phenylacetaldehyde, as well as sugar content, while negatively correlated with alcohol content. Furthermore, a salting-out effect of certain terpenes and volatile phenols was observed with increasing sucrose concentration, potentially enhancing the perceived intensity of these above attributes.