Determination of low-molecular mass phenols in red wines: the influence of chips, staves and micro-oxygenation aging tank.

The aim of this study is to assess the use of polymeric cartridges with diode array detection to extract the main low-molecular mass phenolic compounds from red wine samples. This method expanded and improved permitted to quantify 20 compounds in red wines made and aged under different conditions. These conditions included aging in barrels and in tanks with chips or staves as well as micro-oxygenation. The study of wine development during its wood storage period and the compounds transferred from the wood to the wine during this period provide useful important information concerning the impact of wine aging methods on the chemical makeup of the resulting wines. The main compounds that differentiated wine aging systems were identified to be 5-hydroxymethyl-2 furaldehyde, gallic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic aldehyde, syringic acid and sinapic acid.