Preliminary study of the effect of cation-exchange resin treatment on the aging of tempranillo red wines

Abstract This research reports the effect of the cation exchange treatment in Tempranillo wines during the aging period in oak barrels. The control wine and the mixtures with different percentages (5, 10 and 20%) of wine treated by a cation exchange resin (permeate wine) were evaluated. In general, a greater acidity, color and tartaric stability, and a lower mineral content were observed in the treated wines, especially in those with 20% of permeate wine. In addition, during the entire aging time, the decrease in potassium and magnesium cations stood out. A higher concentration of aromatic compounds such as hexyl acetate, isobutanol, 2-phenylethyl alcohol, ethyl isovalerate and diethyl succinate was observed in treated wines after six months of aging. The two last compounds reached the highest concentrations when the percentage of permeated increased and reached values up to 23 μg/L for ethyl isovalerate and up to 3186 μg/L for diethyl succinate. In addition, the perception thresholds of these esters were exceeded in all wines. The use of cation exchange resins seems to be an effective industrial alternative to produce balanced red aged wines in a climate change scenario.