Evidence of Metabolic Transformations of Amino Acids into Higher Alcohols through 13 C NMR Studies of Wine Alcoholic Fermentation

Because the metabolite transformations in wine fermentation processes play a crucial role in the organoleptic and hygienic quality of wines, the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique is presented as a significant tool to follow metabolic pathways. In this paper, we investigated the transformation of several amino acids into their corresponding higher alcohols during the alcoholic fermentation, showing that the amino acids are totally consumed in the first stages of the process.