Wine Aging Process Research Articles

Wine quality implications of the treatment of oak wood with plasma activated water (PAW): A preliminary study

Microbiological and chemical contamination of oak barrels poses significant challenges in the wine ageing process. This study explores the Plasma Activated Water (PAW) as an innovative probable solution for cleaning oak wood of various origins. Although data demonstrated reductions in the culturable microbial populations of three wine spoilage microorganisms from the tested wood (American, French and Spanish with medium and plus toastings), this initial study was focused on physicochemical and sensorial parameters of wines. Importantly, wines aged with PAW-treated wood showed physicochemical parameters like those of traditional oak barrel ageing, maintaining colour and avoiding oxidation. Sensory analysis revealed high quality red wines with harmonious balance of fruity and spicy notes, comparable to those treated with sulphur, without significant differences between PAW generation methods. The results of this study highlight PAW as a promising and sustainable method that might be tested in the wine industry under industrial conditions. PAW could offer an effective approach to disinfecting oak wood, ensuring consistent wine quality without compromising sensory or physicochemical attributes. This research provides a valuable preliminary contribution to the scientific community and the wine industry, paving the way for the adoption of PAW as a cutting-edge technology in wine production.

Exploring Red Wine Aging: Comparative Analysis of Cellar and Sea Underwater Aging on Chemical Composition and Quality.

The aging process of wine is influenced by various factors, including the presence of oxygen, the temperature, and the storage conditions. While oxygen can have both positive and negative effects on wine quality, temperature fluctuations during storage can impact its chemical composition. This study has investigated the aging of Merlot and Sangiovese wines under traditional cellar conditions and underwater, exploring the influence of storage parameters on their chemical evolution. Analyzing parameters such as temperature, pressure, and chemical composition, the research revealed subtle but significant changes in the wines over time. Both wines showed a gradual reduction in total phenols, anthocyanins, non-flavonoid compounds, and total sulfur dioxide, irrespective of the storage conditions. Preliminary findings suggested that aging wine underwater does not induce significant alterations in its fundamental characteristics compared to traditional cellar aging. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of wine aging processes and highlight the importance of storage conditions in preserving wine quality. Further research is needed to fully elucidate the complexities of underwater aging and its broader implications for wine production.

Accelerating Xinomavro Red Wine Flavor Aging Using a Pulsed Electric Field and Various Wood Chips

Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment has gained significant attention within the food industry. This study examines the application of PEF combined with wood chips of diverse species to expedite the flavor aging process of Xinomavro red wine. Various wood chip species, including black locust, common juniper, apricot, sweet chestnut, cherry, apple, peach, and European oak, sourced from pruning residues were immersed in the wine prior to subjecting it to PEF treatment. The samples underwent a range of pulse durations and intervals during treatment. Comparative preparations encompassing wine without chips and wine infused with each wood type left at ambient temperature for 5 days were also examined. The sensory attributes and the volatile compounds (VC) were assessed through the utilization of headspace solid-phase microextraction and GC-MS. In the control sample, 12 VCs were identified, whereas in the samples, 22 distinct VCs were identified. Favorable sensory attributes across all PEF conditions were associated with the incorporation of cherry wood chips. These findings highlight the potential of PEF treatment to enhance the quality parameters of the aging process in Xinomavro red wine, capitalizing on the synergistic interaction between PEF and various wood chip species. This innovative approach holds promise for augmenting crucial oenological parameters of red wine, strengthening the use of PEF as an efficient technique to enhance the overall quality.

Effects of sediment and temperature on the long-term aging process of rice wine: Microbial and metabolic insights

Rice wine is low in alcohol content (6 %), rich in nutrients, and contains live microorganisms; therefore, it is generally produced without an aging process during manufacturing. In this study, we investigated the microbial and metabolic changes that occur during the long-term aging of undiluted rice wine with different amount of sediment and aging temperatures. Rice wine samples with higher amounts of sediment had higher yeast counts and alcohol content, indicating a crucial role of sediment in providing nutrients for yeast survival during aging. Furthermore, the rice wine samples that were aged at 12 °C exhibited a notable increase in the relative abundance of Lactobacillus after 100 days of aging. Metabolic profiling revealed that the production of metabolites during rice wine aging was greatly influenced by the amount of sediment and aging temperature, with most metabolites showing a strong correlation with these factors. This study provides valuable insights into the impact of sediment and temperature on the microbial and metabolic changes that occur during the long-term aging of rice wine.

New process of goji fermented wine: effect of goji residue degradation to generate norisoprenoid aroma compounds

In the present study, we compared the color, flavor, and sensory attributes of wines prepared from undegraded (GW1), and physically (GW2) and biologically (GW3) degraded goji residue. Change in wine color showed a similar trend during the aging period; the color gradually became darker, with an increasing red and yellow hue. The wine obtained using the biological method was more clarified, transparent, and lustrous after 30 days of aging. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) detected 7 norisopreniod aroma compounds in GW1 and 9 additional compounds including dihydro-β-ionone, dihydrojasmone, safranal, α-cyclocitral, β-cyclocitral, octanoic acid, 2-octenal, β-damascenon, and geraniol propionate in GW2 and GW3. However, the content of GW3 compounds was higher than GW2 and GW1 compounds. Compared to GW1 and GW2, GW3 compounds showed a more intense floral and fruity aroma with typical wolfberry notes. Sensory evaluation revealed that panelists preferred GW3, followed by GW1 and GW2. Altogether, biodegradation of goji residue produced goji wine with the best color, flavor, and organoleptic qualities. We believe this study will contribute to a better understanding of the brewing and aging process of goji wine and improve its quality.

Color myth: anthocyanins reactions and enological approaches achieving their stabilization in the aging process of red wine

Color myth: anthocyanins reactions and enological approaches achieving their stabilization in the aging process of red wine

Potential applications of pulsed electric field in the fermented wine industry.

Fermented wine refers to alcoholic beverages with complex flavor substances directly produced by raw materials (fruit or rice) through microbial fermentation (yeast and bacteria). Its production steps usually include saccharification, fermentation, filtration, sterilization, aging, etc., which is a complicated and time-consuming process. Pulsed electric field (PEF) is a promising non-thermal food processing technology. Researchers have made tremendous progress in the potential application of PEF in the fermented wine industry over the past few years. The objective of this paper is to systematically review the achievements of PEF technology applied to the winemaking and aging process of fermented wine. Research on the application of PEF in fermented wine suggests that PEF treatment has the following advantages: (1) shortening the maceration time of brewing materials; (2) promoting the extraction of main functional components; (3) enhancing the color of fermented wine; (4) inactivating spoilage microorganisms; and (5) accelerating the formation of aroma substances. These are mainly related to PEF-induced electroporation of biomembranes, changes in molecular structure and the occurrence of chemical reactions. In addition, the key points of PEF treatments for fermented wine are discussed and some negative impacts and research directions are proposed.

The quality change of fig wine fermented by RV171 yeast during the six-month aging process

In the present study, the objective was to determine the quality changes of fig wine fermented with single yeast during six months of aging process. The suitable single yeast was screened, and the optimal fermentation process was determined through single-factor experimental analysis and response surface methodology. The fig wine prepared by the optimal fermentation process then aged for six months. The results showed that the strain RV171 was the most suitable yeast among six evaluated yeast strains. The optimal process conditions were yeast addition 0.3%, fermentation temperature 28 °C, and fermentation time 9 days. During the aging process, the contents of vitamin C, total phenolics and flavonoids, as well as antioxidant activity of fig wine changed significantly. There was a positive correlation between these bioactive substances and antioxidant capacity. In addition, significant differences existed for volatile aroma compounds in fig wine at different aging times. When fig wine is aged for one month, the content of ester volatile components was the highest, while the aroma is better than the others. The present study could provide theoretical basis for the production and aging process of fig wine, which would be helpful for further investigation and application of figs to functional foods.

The Positive Effect of Aging in the Case of Wine

This paper examines the positive aspects of aging. Some items, such as valuable and rare stamps, old coins, works of art, and antiques, become more expensive over time. More popular examples demonstrating the positive effect of aging that influences price are the aging of boutique wine and artisan cheese. The present paper examines the wine aging process that brings about quality improvement. This process also leads to determining (i) optimal aging periods for different wines; (ii) optimal grape juice inventory allocations and prices for different wines; (iii) optimal quantities of different kinds of wine; and (iv) the time durations of wine production and consumption from each vintage. These aspects are considered in an environment in which the demand increases over time due to the aging and rarity of the product.

Kinetics of Formation of Flavano‐C‐Glycosidic Ellagitannins (Acutissimin A and B) in Model Solutions Containing Medium Toasted Oak Chips and Catechin for Wine Aging

AbstractThe aging process of wine goes beyond conservation and involves the use of wood, which is capable of containing and protecting, and allows a limited passage of oxygen, sufficient to promote slow maturation of the wine, thanks to which it reaches the maximum of its organoleptic qualities. The most used wood is oak and during aging, the wine extracts from the wood of the barrels an abundant quantity of aromatic substances, due to the contact between the wine and the matrix of the wood. Among the newly formed compounds, the flavano‐ellagitannins, namely the acutissimin A and B, are the minor compounds found in wood aged wine. They are formed during the aging process through the condensation of tannins, such as vescalagin, extracted from the wood matrix and flavonoids, such as catechins contained in wine. The aim of the study is to verify the formation of acutissimins after 28 days in model solutions that simulated aged wine in the presence of 1%, 5%, and 10% w/v percentages of wood chips obtained from Quercus alba and with variable concentrations of catechin (100 and 500 mg L−1). The formation of compounds, including acutissimin A and B, and the disappearance of catechin are identified by high‐performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry. Acutissimins A and B are validated by comparison with the characteristic m/z reported in the literature. Based on the results obtained, the model system prepared with 500 mg L−1 of catechin and 10% w/v oak chips showed the highest content of acutissimin A and B.

Application of Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption Spectroscopy with Machine Learning Techniques for the Classification of Cretan Wines.

The present study was aimed at the identification, differentiation and characterization of red and white Cretan wines, which are described with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), using ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy. Specifically, the grape variety, the wine aging process and the role of barrel/container type were investigated. The combination of spectroscopic results with machine learning-based modelling demonstrated the use of absorption spectroscopy as a facile and low-cost technique in wine analysis. In this study, a clear discrimination among grape varieties was revealed. Moreover, a grouping of samples according to aging period and container type of maturation was accomplished, for the first time.

Wine Aging Technology: Fundamental Role of Wood Barrels.

The aging of wines is a process used to preserve wine but also to enhance its properties. It is a process of great interest, mainly because of the additional properties it adds to wines and because of its economic implications. Historically, barrels have been employed for centuries for preserving and aging wine due to their resistance and relative impermeability. In general terms, the wine aging process can be divided into two phases: oxidative and reductive aging. Oxidative aging traditionally takes place in barrels while reductive phase occurs in the bottle. During both processes, oxygen plays a fundamental role as well as other factors, for instance: temperature, light, bottle position, microbial growth or storage time. Likewise, during the aging process, a series of chemical reactions take place influencing the composition and organoleptic profile of wine. At this point, oxidative aging in barrels is a fundamental step. Barrels are directly involved in the produced changes on wine’s composition due to the transference of oxygen and phenolic and aromatic compounds from wood to wine. This way, barrels act as an active vessel capable of releasing compounds that affect and improve wine’s characteristics. Regarding, the importance of barrels during aging process, some attention must be given to the species most used in cooperage. These species are conventionally oak species, either French or American. However, other non-conventional species are currently being studied as possible wood sources for the production of wines, such as chestnut robinia or other oak species. In the last decades, new approaches have been developed for barrel aging to find new alternatives more suitable, affordable and feasible to sanitize the process, such as other materials different from wood or the use of wood chips, which is regulated since 2006 by the EU. However, even though some of them have shown promising data, barrels are currently the most used technology for the oxidative stage of table wines aging.

Artificial Intelligence Methods for Constructing Wine Barrels with a Controlled Oxygen Transmission Rate.

Oxygen is an important factor in the wine aging process, and the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) is the parameter of the wood that reflects its oxygen permeation. OTR has not been considered in the cooperage industry yet; however, recent studies proposed a nondestructive method for estimating the OTR of barrel staves, but an efficient method to combine these staves to build barrels with a desired OTR is needed to implement it in the industry. This article proposes artificial intelligence methods for selecting staves for the construction of barrel heads or bodies with a desired target OTR. Genetic algorithms were used to implement these methods in consideration of the known OTR of the staves and the geometry of the wine barrels. The proposed methods were evaluated in several scenarios: homogenizing the OTR of the actual constructed barrels, constructing low-OTR and high-OTR barrels based on a preclassification of the staves and implementing the proposed method in real cooperage conditions. The results of these experiments suggest the suitability of the proposed methods for their implementation in a cooperage in order to build controlled OTR barrels.

Influence of non-thermal processing techniques on sulfur dioxide and oxygen concentrations in young and aged wines

The application of innovative techniques like high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and high power ultrasound (HPU) for food processing and preservation is one of the current topics in food science. In the enological field, these techniques have been identified as alternative methods for wine microbial stabilization and acceleration of wine aging process. Due to lack of available information about their influence on physicochemical characteristics, the aim of this work was to study the effect of HHP and HPU on sulfur dioxide and dissolved oxygen concentrations in red and white wines. The effect was evaluated immediately after the treatment and after 3, 6 and 12 months of aging in bottles. Moreover, the synergistic effect of mentioned techniques along with antioxidants additions (glutathione and SO2) was also evaluated. The results showed that the concentrations of free and total SO2 did not change immediately after HHP treatments, while after HPU processing there was no clear trend in analyzed parameters. As expected, results showed that both, free and total SO2 decreased during storage period of red and white wines. Regarding both applied techniques, slightly higher concentrations of free SO2 were observed in samples treated by HHP after 12 months of storage. Oxygen concentration slightly increased immediately after the treatments, with the highest concentration determined after HPU processing. During aging, its concentrations decreased and were similar or slightly higher than of those determined in untreated samples. Regarding the antioxidants additions, better protective effect was obtained by addition of higher concentration of SO2 than glutathione, since these samples were characterized by lower concentrations of dissolved oxygen.

Comparative environmental impact analysis of techniques for cleaning wood wine barrels

We compare four techniques that are commonly used for cleaning and disinfection of oak wine barrels with 225 l of capacity used in the red wine aging process through a life cycle analysis (LCA). The analysed techniques were pressurised water (at 90 °C) plus sulphur dioxide (SO2) wick (7.5 g per barrel), water vapour (at 105 °C) plus sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3) (4 ppm), and carbon dioxide (CO2) (50 kg/h for 180 s). The results showed that the barrel cleaning technique with the lowest impact on all water scarcity indexes and is the carbon dioxide, due mainly to low water usage. However, in the global warming category, carbon dioxide technology is the technique that has the greatest environmental impact with a value of 4.080 kg CO2 per cleaned barrel, due mainly to CO2 and air consumption.

Extraction of Anti-inflammatory Components of Oak Wood via the Aging Process of Japanese Rice Wine (<i>Sake</i>) in Oak Barrels

Extraction of Anti-inflammatory Components of Oak Wood via the Aging Process of Japanese Rice Wine (<i>Sake</i>) in Oak Barrels

Numerical simulations for the optimisation of ventilation system designed for wine cellars

The wine-ageing process is one of the most important phases of the wine production and it can be considerably affected by the micro-climatic conditions inside the ageing rooms. Underground wine cellars in small-medium wineries are designed with natural ventilation systems, able to maintain optimal indoor condition. However, critical factors emerge, such as mold growth or wine evapo-transpiration, where ventilation proved to be poorly designed, insufficient in the first case or excessive in the second one. The zones around the wooden barrels proved to be the most sensitive and problematic. These areas are the most investigated in terms of temperature and humidity values but surprisingly not in terms of air velocity. In this paper, a ventilation system has been designed and optimised to support the lack of ventilation, by means of computational fluid dynamics modelling. Eight configurations have been performed and analysed, identifying the best two according to the air velocity range. Specific parameters have been defined to appreciate the application limits of each configuration. These parameters can be used as reference for system design in similar studies and applications and can help scholars and professionals to identify the optimal configurations for the implementation and proper placement of the system inside a cellar.

Blends of wood chips from oak and cherry: impact on the general phenolic parameters and sensory profile of a white wine during the aging process

Today, there is a restricted knowledge about the potential impact of the use of different wood chip species on the white wine aging process. This lack of knowledge is even greater when wood species are used in blends of different species. Thus, the aim was to carry out a comparative analysis of the impact of different blends of wood chip species, involving oak and cherry wood, on different phenolic and color parameters, browning potential index and sensory profile of a white wine during the aging process. During the aging time studied, the use of wood chips induced an increase of wine phenolic content and color intensity, particularly in wines aged in contact with cherry wood chips alone or in blends with oak wood chips. A similar tendency was also detected for browning potential index. Regarding the sensorial results, the use of different wood chip species has an impact on the increase of woody aroma for the wines aged with oak wood chip species and also an increase of body and astringency descriptors for the wines aged with oak chips alone or blended with cherry chips. This work advances our understanding of the impact of different wood chip species separately or by the use of blends on white wine quality.

Influence of Different Wood Chip Extracts Species on Color Changes and Anthocyanin Content in Synthetic Wine Solutions.

There is restricted knowledge about the potential impact of the use of different wood species on color and anthocyanin changes during the red wine aging process. This lack of knowledge is even greater when no oak wood species are used. Thus, the aim of this study was to carry out a comparative analysis of the impact of wood chip extracts from oak, acacia, and cherry species on the color characteristics and anthocyanins changes using synthetic wine solutions. In this context, several methodologies were used to quantify, color, and anthocyanins changes during the aging time studied. The results indicated that the contact between wood chip extracts and grape skin isolated anthocyanin extracts induced a decrease of color intensity (particularly red color), and the anthocyanin content in the different experimental synthetic wine solutions studied. All chromatic modifications are potentially detected by human eyes because ΔE values were much higher than 3 CIELab units. These tendencies seem to be independent of the wood species used, but are more pronounced for higher contact time between wood chip extracts and anthocyanins. The obtained results may contribute to a better understanding of the chromatic changes of red wines when aged in contact with different wood chip species.

Precision enology in Tawny Port wine aging process: Monitoring barrel to barrel variation in oxygen, temperature and redox potential

Tawny Port wine is a category of the famous Portuguese fortified wine commercialized worldwide and produced in the Douro Demarcated Region. Tawny Port wine oxidative aging is a multifactorial process critical for reaching the wanted quality. Real time monitoring of important intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are known to affect both time and quality of the aging process are important to optimize and to manage the natural variability between wines aged in different long-used wood barrels. This study presents the design, development and implementation of a remote distributed system to monitor parameters that are known to be critical for Tawny Port wine aging process. Results indicate that the distributed monitoring system was capable to detect differences between oak wood barrels and between the different storage conditions. Indeed, oxygen and redox potential were the wine's parameters where the differences found between different barrels were greater under the same storage conditions. Considering that Tawny Port wine aging process is oxidative, a variation in the wine's aging process between different wood barrels is to be expected. Actually, significant differences were detected in the oxygen consumption rate amongst the different barrels. Differences in the phenolic composition was also observed in the aged wine (controlled temperature and room temperature).