Abstract
Wood powders are produced in large quantity as by-product of barrel, staves and chips industry. Differently from larger particles (chips), the use of wood powders in winemaking is not admitted (Regulation (CE) n. 934/2019); however, it could represent a cheap and sustainable alternative for the accelerated aging of red wine. To evaluate their potential use in winemaking, a comparative study on the use of wood powders from oak, chestnut and acacia wood for the accelerated aging of red wine (cv. Aglianico) was conducted. This alternative aging was compared to the aging in wood barrels from the same botanical species. The wine aged in contact with powders underwent a quicker evolution of polyphenolic fraction. After 15 days of contact, the loss of total anthocyanins was higher than that observed after 6 months of aging in barrels (from 4 to 14% with respect to the corresponding kind of barrel). The amount of polymeric pigments tannins–anthocyanins–tannins in wines aged in contact with powders was higher respect to the wines aged in barrels (from 7 to 21% with respect to the corresponding kind of barrel), while the greatest loss of total tannins was detected in the oak barrels (28% less with respect to the control). There were several differences in wine phenolic acids due to wood botanical origin, with the clearest differences being between oak and the alternative wood species (chestnut and acacia). Also, there was a significant botanical effect on sensory profiles. Indeed, both among barrels and among powders, oak wood was the one that gave the strongest wood odor character. However, all the treatments with wood powders (oak, acacia and chestnut) preserved the fruity character of wine, conferring in the meanwhile non-dominant woody notes.
Highlights
The aging in oak barrels is a common practice in the production of high-quality red wines
These reactions are essentially due to three processes: moderate oxidation [39], reactions with reactive compounds extracted from wood such as ellagitannins or phenolic aldehydes [11, 40] and adsorption of wine native phenolics on wood surface [12]
The results of the present study indicate that the use of wood powders could be an easy-to-use alternative to barrels for red wine aging
Summary
The aging in oak barrels is a common practice in the production of high-quality red wines. The improvement of sensory quality of wines stored in barrel is mainly due to two phenomena: the micro-oxygenation of wine, due to the small amounts of air that slowly pass through the pores of the staves, and the release of sensory active compounds from wood to wine [1]. Barrel aging is undoubtedly the most used practice to improve sensory quality of red wine by contact with wood, and oak species (mainly Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, and Quercus alba) are traditionally used in barrel making [1] The chemical nature and levels of the released compounds (ellagitannins and volatiles) as well as the oxygen permeability and adsorption phenomena involving wine phenolics and volatiles can vary greatly depending on the botanical and geographical origin of wood, the ratio of wood surface area to wine volume, the humidity and temperature of winery, the alcohol level, the wine composition, the reuse of barrel, as well as on the processing that undergoes in cooperage, seasoning and toasting [14,15,16,17,18,19].
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