Use of new tools for red wine aging: active and passive microoxygenation with oak wood. Effect on volatile compounds and sensorial impact

Abstract

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the evolution of different chemical parameters and sensory impact on red wine during maturation in barrels or with new technologies: active and passive micro-oxygenation systems together with oak wood alternatives.

METHODS: Seven different aging systems [1] based in HDPE tanks with different OTR, tank using PMDS infusion tube, stoneware barrel, stainless steel tank together with MOX and barrel, were filled with Tinta de Toro variety wine. The trial lasted for six months and, in both the traditional barrel and the alternative stave systems, French oak wood with a similar average toast from the same cooperage and from the same batch was used. Along with the addition of oak wood in the MOX systems, the active MOX systems used a variable O2 dosage that reproduces the dynamic OTR profile of a barrel [2].

RESULTS: The active MOX system was performed with the addition of oak wood, reproducing the volume of wood in contact with wine from a barrel. Since the wine was sampled at different times (45, 90, 135 and 180 days), different statistical procedures have been performed to establish the differences between them throughout the study period and, in the end, to relate the analytical composition to the sensory analysis of the wine. 

CONCLUSIONS

Alternative aging systems, based on a passive MOX (HDPE, PDMS and StW) have proved to be suitable for wine aging, since the results obtained were similar than ones for wines from a classic active MOX, made in stainless steel tanks, and barrels. However, some differences were observed that allow their differentiation. Both, on a sensory and analytical level, barrel wines were the most different, being algo possible the differentiation of PDMS wines from H-HDPE and MOX and from Ö-HDPE, StW and L-HDPE. Of all the parameters analyzed, volatile composition was the one that most contributed to the differentiation, which could be mainly due to the way in which the wine accesses the compounds present in the wood, compared to the rest of the aging systems.