Influence of toasting of oak chips on red wine maturation from sensory and gas chromatographic headspace analysis

Red wine from the Greek grape cultivar Aghiorghitiko, was aged in stainless steel with and without wood chips toasted to different degrees (heavily, medium, lightly) and in a 225L American standard oak barrel for 32 days. Headspace concentrations of four wood-derived congeners (furfural, guaiacol, cis and trans oak lactones) were determined over this period after which the wines were bottled, stored and subjected to sensory descriptive analyses. Of the 36 attributes for appearance, aroma and oral characters, 14 were significant in univariate analyses and differentiated wines in a multivariate (principal component analysis) product space explaining 72% variance in two factors. Wines from medium toast wood chips scored highest for woody, vegetative and smoky aromas and flavours but also for bitter taste and astringent mouthfeel and after 14 days had the highest headspace concentrations of furfural and cis oak lactone. Wood-related notes were ranked from heavily and lightly toasted chips, barrel and steel control.