Effect of Pulsed Electric Field Processing of Red Grapes on Wine Chromatic and Phenolic Characteristics during Aging in Oak Barrels

Abstract

The influence of a pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment of grape berries at pilot-plant scale on the evolution of the chromatic and phenolic characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon red wines during aging in American oak barrels and subsequent storage in bottle has been studied. Results obtained in this investigation confirm that the better chromatic characteristics and higher phenolic content obtained due to the PEF treatment after the fermentation process remain or even increase during aging in oxidative conditions in American oak barrels and their subsequent storage in bottle. No sensory differences in color and bouquet were detected after 8 months of aging in bottle by triangle tests. According to the results, PEF is a promising enological technology to obtain wines with the high phenolic content necessary for the production of high quality oak aged red wines.

Experimental design approach for the evaluation of anthocyanin content of rosé wines obtained by pulsed electric fields. Influence of temperature and time of maceration

“…It has also been verified that the differences obtained at the end of the fermentation process remained during ageing in barrel and storing in bottle (Puértolas, Saldaña, Condón, Álvarez, & Raso, 2010c;Puértolas, Saldaña, Álvarez, & Raso, 2010d). Thus, the use of PEF may represent a promising alternative for improving the anthocyanin extraction during prefermentative maceration at low temperatures in rosé winemaking.…”

Recent Advances and Applications of Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) to Improve Polyphenol Extraction and Color Release during Red Winemaking

“…The evolution of chromatic and phenolic profiles of Cabernet Sauvignon during aging in oak barrels and following bottling was studied, showing that the stabilising effect of applying pulsed field prior must fermentation is maintained and even enhanced during aging in American oak barrels: in the study, a panel triangle test was used to demonstrate that the wine quality remained unchanged in terms of color and phenolic content after 8 months bottling, regardless the bottling was preceded by storage in wood under oxidative conditions [51].…”

Alternative Methods to SO2 for Microbiological Stabilization of Wine

“…The treatment of must with PEF allowed to reduce or even to eliminate the addition of SO 2 prior to inoculation, minimally affecting the production of volatile compounds by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and with no negative impact on the sensory characteristics of the obtained wine (Garde‐Cerdán, Marsellés‐Fontanet, Arias‐Gil, Ancín‐Azpilicueta, & Martín‐Belloso, ). The PEF technology was also studied for other applications in the winemaking industry, such as the accelerated extraction of phenolic compounds (anthocyanins and tannins) from grape skin (El Darra et al., ; López‐Giral et al., ), the stabilization of red wine color during oak aging (Puértolas, Saldaña, Alvarez, & Raso, ), the accelerated evolution of organic acids during bottle‐aging (Wang, Su, Zhang, & Yang, ), the decrease in residual fungicides in dry white wine (Delsart et al., ), the accelerated evolution of phenolic compounds in young red wines, and mimicking natural aging (Chen, Zhang, & Luo, ). The PEF treatments determine an increase in temperature proportional to the applied energy; therefore, pauses during the discontinuous process (Delsart et al., ) or cooling after continuous flow treatment (González‐Arenzana et al., ) are necessary in order to protect the thermosensitive molecules of wine.…”