Phenolic compounds evolution of still dry Chenin blanc wines during oak barrel aging on lees

Abstract

Oak barrel aging is a traditional practice used in winemaking to produce high quality white wines. The impact of this practice over the evolution of volatile compounds in white wines is well documented. Yet the evolution of non-volatile compounds, such as phenolic compounds, remains poorly explored. The evolution of phenolic compounds in still dry Chenin blanc wine was studied during oak barrel aging on lees. Wine samples were collected over three vintages (2021, 2022 and 2023) after alcoholic and malolactic fermentation from three different vineyards at three or four sampling periods during aging in new and used oak barrels. The phenolic compound contents of various families were determined using a LC-MS-DAD. The data analyses consisted in assessing the temporal evolution of the phenolic composition between the sampling periods and the potential impact of the different factors of the experimental design (vintage, parcel, type of barrel and the sampling period) using linear mixed models. The results showed that the vintage factor had the main effect in the global phenolic composition considering all periods (p = 0.001), followed by vineyard effect (p = 0.008), while the barrel effect was nonsignificant (p = 0.075). However, data showed an heterogenous dispersion, which could represent higher variability in each vintage. To go further, the effect of the different factors assembled was considered for each phenolic compound during aging for the three vintages. Phenolic compounds concentrations were significantly affected by the period and its interactions with the other factors: vintage, vineyard and barrel. For example, ferulic acid concentration was significantly impacted by the period and vintage interaction (p = 8.45.10-12). Period and vineyard interaction had a significant effect over ethyl caffeate (p = 7.15.10-08), while period and barrel interaction had a significant effect over gallic acid level (p = 9.55.10-3). Phenolic concentration of these three compounds increased during oak barrel aging. We propose to present the evolution of the phenolic compounds of the wines during aging and offer tentative explanations for these variations. These results showed however the complexity of understanding molecular interactions during wine aging on lees in oak barrel and may suggest further study on the temporal evolution of other non-volatile compounds such as amino acids.

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Maury et al. (2026). Changes in amino acid composition of still Chenin blanc wine during ageing on lees. OENO One. In press.