Aging of red wines

Haslam, E., In vino veritas oligomeric procyanidins and the ageing of red wines. Phytochemistry 19, 2577, 1980. 

Parra, V., Arrieta, A. A., Fernandez-Escudero, J. A., Iniguez, M., De Saja, J. A., and Rodriguez-Mendez, M. L. (2006a). Monitoring of the ageing of red wines in oak barrels by means of an hybrid electronic tongue. Anal. Chim. Acta 563(1-2), 229-237. 

Castel, C., Morand, A., Pujol, G., Peyron, D., and Naudin, R. (2001). Influence on phenolic composition and sensory characteristics of microoxygenation on grape pomaces and during aging of red wines in Burgundy. Ind. Bevande 30, 771-T76. 

Jimenez-Moreno, N., Goni, D.T. Ancin Azpihcueta, C. (2003). Changes in amine concentrations during aging of red wine in oak barrels. J. Agric. Food Chem., 51, 5132-5131. 

Flavanols and Anthocyanins as Potent Compounds in the Formation of New Pigments during Storage and Aging of Red Wine... 

The probable involvement of xanthylium salts in red wine color change is supported by the fact that their absorption maxima match well with the increase in yellow color around 420 nm observed during ageing of red wine. Thus, Liao et al. (22) demonstrated in model systems that reactions between anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols give rise to orange-yellow (440 nm) pigmented products. Based on the earlier observations of Jurd Somers (24) and Hrazdina Borzell (48 such products have been postulated to be xanthylium salts proceeding from direct anthocyanin-flavanol adducts. 

The reactions described in this work were conducted in model solution system and obviously do not match what really occurs during storage and ageing of red wine which has a more complex composition. Nevertheless, it is expected that such experiments may at least enable elucidation of the simpler polymerization products such as those slowly formed during maturation and storage. 

Malvidin is more resistant than cyanidin to the controlled oxidation that occnrs during the barrel aging of red wines (Table 6.5), due to the substitution of the B cycle (Laborde, 1987). 

Table 13.7. Quantity of oxygen likely to be added by microbubbling during the fermentation and aging of red wines...

Fig. 13.8. The three phases in the aging of red wine (Dubourdieu, 1992) Tasting qualities...

Over the past few years, a more favorable economic climate has fostered a new interest in barrel aging. There is greater awareness of the role played by oak in wine development, and a concern to adapt barrel aging to the quality of each wine. Perfect control of the various parameters and techniques has made it possible to fine-tune the use of wood and its influence on wine quality (Guim-berteau, 1992). This section deals exclusively with the issues relating to the barrel aging of red wines. White wines must be fermented in the barrel to obtain high-quality results and the techniques are described elsewhere (Volume 1, Section 13.8). 

Table 13.14. Oxygen dissolved during various operations involved in the aging of red wines (Vivas, 1997)...

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