Characterisation of young Cognac spirit aromatic quality Original Research Article

In order to determine the quality of young Cognac spirits, mainly appreciated by the absence of defects, a new method has been developed, based on sniffing and olfactometry (GC–O) and associated with sensory and chemical analysis. During 3 years, good quality spirits selected first by Cognac merchant were analysed and selected by an original panel of tasters used to judge those spirits. The aromatic profile were established and compared. Then, the most different spirits were analysed by sniffing coupled with gas chromatography. The olfactometric profile obtained were compared. We noticed that they have all the same aromatic base constituted with 18 specific areas. Six of them were unknown and we are trying now to identify them.