IVAS 2022 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 IVAS 9 IVAS 2022 9 Assessment of Mineral Elements in Wine Spirits Aged with Chestnut Wood

Assessment of Mineral Elements in Wine Spirits Aged with Chestnut Wood

Abstract

The mineral composition of wine spirit (WS) is of relevant interest due to its potential effect on physicochemical stability, sensory characteristics, and safety.1 Calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) can form insoluble compounds, negatively affecting the WS clarity. Transition metals, e.g. Fe and copper (Cu), seem to play an important catalytic role on oxidation reactions involving phenolic compounds and other substrates for oxidation in WS. Other elements such as Cu, zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), are of concern due to their toxicological or physiological properties. The ageing of WS is traditionally performed in wooden barrels. In spite of the high quality achieved by the WS, this is a time-consuming and costly ageing technology, among other drawbacks. For these reasons, in recent years, special attention has been devoted to alternative ageing technologies, namely the application of wood fragments to WS kept in stainless steel, often combined with micro-oxygenation (MOX). Having in mind that wood ash main inorganic components are potassium (K), Ca and magnesium (Mg), but also sodium (Na) and Fe, the potential transference of these and other metals to the WS during ageing is expected. However, in spite of substantial understanding of the organic extractable compounds, little has been published on mineral elements extraction from wood to WS and even to wine, 2,3 and with the exception of a recent study of the authors focused on Fe and Cu, no data is available for chestnut wood.4 This study, developed within the Project Oxyrebrand (https://projects.iniav.pt/oxyrebrand/index.php/pt/), aimed to examine the effect of WS’s ageing with chestnut wood (Castanea sativa Mill.), considering traditional and alternative technologies, on the beverage mineral composition. A wine distillate was aged in 250 L chestnut barrels (traditional ageing) and in 50 L glass demijohns with chestnut wood staves combined with three levels of MOX and nitrogen application (alternative ageing technology), with two replicates. Sampling was carried out after 3 weeks, 2, 6, 9 and 12 months of ageing, and the WS was assessed in terms of mineral elements composition by adapting an Q-ICP-MS semi-quantitative method previously developed and validated. 5 A full mass spectrum (m/z = 6–240, omitting the mass ranges 16–18; 40, 41, 211–229) was obtained by full mass range scanning. ANOVA was performed to examine the influence of the ageing modality and ageing time on the mineral composition. At the end of the ageing essay, and for most part of the elements, no significant differences between WS from different ageing modalities were found. Ageing time had significant effect on most of the elements, with different trends and distinct magnitude of changes being observed, depending on the element. In general, the concentrations of the mineral elements found in the WS were quite low, which is positive from the WS quality point of view.

References

1 Catarino S., Curvelo-Garcia A.S., Bruno de Sousa R., 2008. Contaminant elements in wines: A review. Ciência Téc. Vitiv., 23, 3-19.
2 Pilet A., Bruno de Sousa R., Ricardo-da-Silva J.M., Catarino S., 2019. Barrel-to-barrel variation of phenolic and mineral composition of red wine. Bio Web Conf., 12,  02011.
3 Kaya A., Bruno de Sousa R., Curvelo-Garcia A.S., Ricardo-da-Silva J.R., Catarino S., 2017. Effect of wood aging on mineral composition and wine 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio. J. Agric. Food Chem., 65, 4766-4776.
4 Canas S., Danalache F., Anjos O., Fernandes T.A., Caldeira I., Santos N., Fargeton N., Boissier B., Catarino S., 2020. Behaviour of Low Molecular Weight Compounds, Iron and Copper of Wine Spirit Aged with Chestnut Staves under Different Levels of Micro-Oxygenation. Molecules, 25, 5266.
5 Catarino S., Curvelo-Garcia A.S., Bruno de Sousa, R., 2006. Measurements of contaminant elements of wines by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: a comparison of two calibration approaches. Talanta, 70, 1073–1080.

DOI:

Publication date: June 23, 2022

Issue: IVAS 2022

Type: Poster

Authors

Catarino Sofia1,2, Vasiliki Thanasi1, Ofélia Anjos3,4,5, Tiago A. Fernandes6,7, Ilda Caldeira8,9, Laurent Fargeton10, Benjamin Boissier10 and Sara Canas8,9

1LEAF-Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food-Research Center, Associated Laboratory TERRA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa

2CEFEMA – Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa
3Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Quinta da Senhora de Mércules
4CEF, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda
5Centro de Biotecnologia de Plantas da Beira Interior
6CQE, Centro de Química Estrutural, Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento (IST-ID), Universidade de Lisboa
7DCeT – Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Aberta
8Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Quinta de Almoínha
9MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Instituto de formação avançada, Universidade de Évora
10Vivelys, Domaine du Chapître

Contact the author

Keywords

wine spirit ageing, mineral composition, chestnut wood, barrel, micro-oxygenation

Tags

IVAS 2022 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Tracing glycosidically-bound smoke taint markers from grape to wine

The increasing frequency of wildfires on the West Coast of the USA is seen as a significant risk for the grape and wine industry. Research has shown that perceived smoke impact in wines correlates with increases in volatile phenols (VPs) in grapes exposed to fresh smoke.

Multivariate data analysis applied on Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy for the prediction of tannins levels during red wine fermentation

Red wine is a beverage with one of the highest polyphenol concentration, which are extracted during the maceration step of the winemaking process.

Fresh odorous terpenoids in wines, multiples pathways of limonene degradation.

Mint aromas in wine, which manifest as “cool” or “fresh” character, can originate from different chemical classes, one of which is the terpenoids. A broadly diverse, naturally occurring class of chemical compounds, terpenes possess wide applications across multiple industries due to their pharmaceutical, antiseptic, medical, and aromatic properties. Monoterpenes, a subclass of terpenoids, likewise play a major role in wine sensory perception. Within the monoterpenes, those possessing “mint” odor qualities have often been studied in the context of “vegetal” or “herbal” wine faults; however, their role in positive aromatic evolution is less understood. Yet an extensive 2015 study of older premium Bordeaux red wines identified mint as a contributing factor in quality bouquet development. From that point, it was necessary to investigate the origins of those monoterpenes as well as the chemical conditions required for their development during ageing. Those two key points could finally facilitate predicting the apparition of minty character in older wines based on their composition while young.
A principal contributor is the cyclic monoterpene limonene, which was isolated relatively early in grapes and wine. Not only does limonene itself possess a cool, fresh odor, it is also a precursor for, and possible derivative of, additional mint monoterpenes. Among the most commonly found monoterpenes, limonene and its derivatives can constitute the majority of the essential oils of citrus fruits, mint and herb plants, and coniferous trees. Many of these mint monoterpenes also occur in grapes and wine. With aromas ranging from woody and earthy to citrus to mint and herbaceous, their contribution to wine is potentially diverse and multi-faceted. While sometimes, found at concentrations below the sensory threshold, synergistic effects between these molecules could render them perceivable.
This review looks at limonene and its transformation as studied in different matrices, and potential parallels or analogues in wine. Moreover, within the complex kinetics of wine aging, the relative concentrations of mint monoterpenes appears to continue to evolve and change, with additional evidence from model wine solutions suggesting they may even revert to their originating precursors. Continued study of mint monoterpenes and their role in wine aromatics will contribute to a deeper understanding of the development of aging bouquet and the longevity of premium wines.

From vineyard to bottle. Rationalizing grape compositional drivers of the expression of “Amarone della Valpolicella” terroir

Valpolicella is a famous Italian wine-producing region. One of its main characteristic is the intensive use of grapes that are submitted to post-harvest withering. This is rather unique in the context of red wine, especially for the production of a dry red wine such as Amarone. Amarone wines produced in Valpolicella different geographic origin are anecdotally believed to be aromatically different, although there is no systematic study addressing the chemical bases of such diversity. Aroma is the product of a biochemical and technological series of steps, resulting from the contribution of different volatile molecules deriving from grapes, fermentations, and reactions linked to aging, as well as one of the most important features in the expression of the geographic identity and sensory uniqueness of a wine.

Structural composition of polymeric polyphenols of red wine after long-term ageing: effect of vinification technology

Aged red wines possess phenolic composition very different from young ones due to the transformations among native grape phenolics and the formation of new polymeric polyphenols during aging process.