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International audience; Flavan-3-ols are units incorporating condensed tannin, which are widely present in grape and wine. They play a considerable role in wine sensory perception such as astringency, bitterness and mouth-feel. In grape and wine, the flavan-3-ols reported to date are (epi)catechin, (epi)gallocatechin, (epi)gallocatechin gallate and (epi)catechin glycoside. This study now shows the presence of a new flavan-3-ol epicatechin vanillate in grape seed and red wine. A putative unknown flavan-3-ol derived from grape seed was targeted by LC-HRMS/MS. Fractionation and purification by centrifugal partition chromatography and Prep HPLC allowed us to obtain the pure new flavan-3-ol. NMR and HRMS data revealed this compound to be epicatechin-3-O-vanillate. Quantification analysis results showed that epicatechin vanillate present in grape seed and red wine in the μg/g dry seed and the μg/L concentration range, respectively.

A strong blackcurrant aroma was recently perceived in some red wines originating from the same appellation. Varietal thiols such as 4-mercapto-4-methyl-2-pentanone (4MMP), 3-(mercapto)hexyl acetate (3MHA) and 3-mercapto-1-hexanol (3MH) are compounds potentially responsible for the development of this aroma. In order to demonstrate the correlation between thiols concentrations in red wines and blackcurrant aroma intensity, a multiple variable analysis was realised with thiols concentrations obtained by chemical analysis and blackcurrant aroma intensities obtained by descriptive sensory analysis. The 4MMP concentration was very well correlated to the blackcurrant aroma, and 3MHA and 3MH present at high concentrations act as enhancers of the perception of this aroma. This correlation was further supported after performing a sensory comparison by classification test. The different factors that could impact on the development of blackcurrant aroma in red wine were discussed.