The effect of time and storage conditions on the phenolic composition and colour of white wine

Abstract

The influence of different storage conditions on the colour and phenolic composition of young white wine was evaluated along 12 months of storage. The wine was bottled, and stored using three different conditions: position of bottles illumination and temperature variations. The results indicate that the time of storage has a significant effect ( p < 0.001) on colour parameters, the majority of the phenols studied and the total phenol content. A significant decrease of phenols is detected during storage, which result in a change in the colour of the wine from pale yellow to yellow-brown. However, it can be noted that their loss was significantly higher in the wine subjected to variable temperature than in the wine stored at a constant temperature after 12 months. The principal component analysis was applied to the wine analysis data measured throughout the storage time, and the scatter plot of the samples was obtained for visual inspection. The effect of the storage time was clearly reflected in this analysis. A good differentiation among wines according to the length of storage was also obtained using linear discriminant analysis.