NEW TREATMENTS FOR TEMPRANILLO WINES BY USING CABERNET SAUVIGNON VINE-SHOOTS AND MICRO-OXYGENATION

Abstract

Toasted vine-shoots as enological additive represents a promising topic due to their significant effect on wine profile. However, the use of this new enological tool with SEGs varieties different than wine and combined with others winemaking technologies, such as micro-oxygenation (MOX), has not been studied so far, despite this combination could result in wine with high chemical and organoleptic quality.

In this study, Tempranillo wines were in contact with Cabernet Sauvignon SEGs in two different doses (D1 and D2), added at the end of malolactic fermentation and with two fixed dosages of micro-oxygenation (low, LMOX; and high, HMOX). At the end of the SEGs-MOX treatments, wines were bottled, and a sensory analysis was carried out over 6 months using a specific scorecard which included color, olfactory and taste descriptors. Also, along with the traditional olfactory and taste descriptors, a new one, named SEGs, was included to describe the specific impact of the vine-shoots. Besides, the phenolic and volatile compositions of wines were analyzed by HPLC-DAD and SBSE-GC/MS, respectively.

In terms of sensory profile, wines were more purple at bottling, regardless of SEGs and MOX doses which decreased with bottle ageing, but the red color remained after 6 months in bottle. In the olfactory phase, wines were less herbaceous and showed more intense notes of nuts, toast, and red fruits after 6 months in bottle with both doses of SEGs and MOX. Finally, in the taste phase, panelists described the wines elaborated with D1 as more intense, highlighting the nuts, toast and vanilla notes after 6 months in bottle and with the HMOX. On his part, wines elaborated with D2 showed a very similar profile, regardless of the SEGs/MOX combination used, with slight differences between them in red fruits or vanillas notes. As for tannins, tasters described them as bitter, but also silkier at bottling time. In terms of volatile com-pounds, the highest concentration of esters, aldehydes or norisoprenoids, among others, was observed mainly in those wines elaborated with the highest doses of SEGs and after bottle time. As for phenolic compounds, a general decrease in their content was observed.