Multivariate study of the evolution of phenolic composition and sensory profile on mouth of Mexican red Merlot wine aged in barrels vs wood chips

Alternative treatments to the use of barrels in the aging process of red wine are now available. One of these techniques is the use of wood chips. Studies have shown that wines subjected either to barrel or chips maturation can be grouped according to the type of aging using their respective phenolic composition. In this study, we compared the concentration of phenolic compounds analyzed through High Performance Liquid Chromatography and the sensory perception, using a Triangular Discriminative Test and Quantitative-Descriptive Analysis, of a Mexican red Merlot wine aged in barrels vs wood chips (both in French oak with an intense toast) for 6 months. We found changes in the composition of several extracted wood phenolic compounds, especially during the first 3 months, showing higher concentrations in wines with chip maturation, while sensory evaluation showed differences only at 2 months and at 6 months of maturation.