Volatile Compounds of Red Wines Macerated with Spanish, American, and French Oak Chips

Abstract

The volatile composition of a red wine aged for 2 months with three different Spanish oak chips (Quercus pyrenaica and Quercus petraea) from different regions of Castilla y León was compared with that of wines aged with American and French chips. In general, the extraction kinetics showed that the maximum concentration of the volatile compounds extracted from wood can be reached in only 1 month. In the final wines, the levels of furanic aldehydes and eugenol were higher in the wines macerated with Spanish chips, whereas cis-whiskey-lactone, vanillin, and methyl vanillate showed higher levels in wines treated with American chips. Among the wines treated with the different Spanish chips, the differences observed in the volatile composition were more related to the geographical origin of the forest than to the botanical species. In general, the wines macerated with Spanish chips showed levels of oak-related volatile compounds that were more similar to those macerated with French chips than to those macerated with American chips.