Dr Dimitra Capone

Dr Dimitra Capone is an ARC Research Associate with The University of Adelaide. Dr Capone completed a PhD in 2012, on the development and application of novel analytical methods to the identification, formation and fate of two important wine aroma compounds.

Dimitra has more than 20 years of previous experience in the area of aroma and flavour chemistry at The Australian Wine Research Institute. She has extensive experience in both targeted and untargeted methods for the analysis of many groups of volatile compounds and their precursors in grape and wine samples, using techniques such as GC-MS, HPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS. Additionally, Dimitra has experience with multivariate data analysis, combining chemical and sensory datasets to determine the important compounds relating to various wine sensory attributes.

Targeted methods are reported in more than 25 peer-reviewed publications and encompass a wide array of volatile compounds. These methods are used routinely for research and encompass groups of compounds arising from grapes, fermentation and ageing. These range from monoterpenes, norisoprenoids, ethyl esters, lactones, 1,8-cineole, and oxidised compounds, to taints such as chloroanisoles and chlorophenols. Dimitra’s research has also involved some of the most analytically-challenging compounds, such as potent thiols associated with ‘citrus’, ‘grapefruit’, ‘smoke’ and ‘roasted coffee’ aromas in certain wine styles.

Analytical approaches using GC-MS, GC-MS-Olfactometry, and LC-MS/MS have led to the identification of compounds that were responsible for characteristic aroma attributes including ‘plastic-like’ taints from various sources, and compounds important to ‘green’ aroma in red wine. Additionally, Dimitra has identified the presence of new varietal thiol precursor intermediates and developed stable isotope dilution analysis methods for accurate quantitation of these compounds, as outlined in her peer-reviewed publication list.

Dimitra has a passion for wine chemistry and welcomes discussions on any aspects of her research interests.