Bottle Aging and Storage of Wines: A Review

Abstract

Wine is perhaps the most ancient and popular alcoholic beverage worldwide. Winemaking practices involve careful vineyard management alongside controlled alcoholic fermentation and potential aging of the wine in barrels. Afterwards, the wine is placed in bottles and stored or distributed in retail. Yet, it is considered that wine achieves its optimum properties after a certain storage time in the bottle. The main outcome of bottle storage is a decrease of astringency and bitterness, improvement of aroma and a lighter and more stable color. This is due to a series of complex chemical changes of its components revolving around the minimized and controlled passage of oxygen into the bottle. For this matter, antioxidants like sulfur oxide are added to avoid excessive oxidation and consequent degradation of the wine. In the same sense, bottles must be closed with appropriate stoppers and stored in adequate, stable conditions, as the wine may develop unappealing color, aromas and flavors otherwise. In this review, features of bottle aging, relevance of stoppers, involved chemical reactions and storage conditions affecting wine quality will be addressed.

The study of the processes of influence of auxiliary agents on grape processing products

“…promotes or limits oxidation. Accordingly, the permeability of materials to gases plays a fundamental role as a means of assessing and predicting changes in the quality of packaged products [8][9][10][11].…”

The Flavor Chemistry of Fortified Wines—A Comprehensive Approach

“…This diffusion process depends on the oak properties (e.g., geographic origin, oak species, seasoning of the staves, toasting, and cask age) [31,32]. The most common woods used during wine aging are obtained from different oak species such as Quercus alba, Q. robur, or Q. petrea, but also from other species known to contain high contents of ellagitannins, namely Acacia, Castanea, or Prunus [33]. The furanic compounds (e.g., 2-furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural), lactones (e.g., sotolon, whiskylactone), and acetals (e.g., dioxane isomers, dioxolane isomers) are the chemical groups significantly associated to the evolution of wine ageing bouquet [20,[34][35][36].…”

Cover Feature: Nickel (0) Complexes as Promising Chemosensors for Detecting the “Cork Taint” in Wine (Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 9/2022)

“…Color, flavor, and aromas are the best-known organoleptic properties of wine that have made it one of the most appreciate and consumed alcoholic beverage worldwide. [1] The complex mixture of flavors and aromas, obtained using different grape varieties [2] and aging processes, [3] constitutes a kind of fingerprint that allows identifying the type and quality of wine. The latter can be preserved by employing adequate storage conditions [4] of temperature and humidity and by using the appropriate packaging.…”