Oxygen exposure of tannins-rich red wines during bottle aging. Influence on phenolics and color, astringency markers and sensory attributes

Three Southern Italy red wines Aglianico, Casavecchia and Pallagrello with high content of total tannins but different initial anthocyanins composition were aged in bottle for 15 months with closures allowing different degrees of wine oxygen exposure. In all wines oxygen exposure resulted in a progressive decrease in monomeric anthocyanins, vanillin reactive flavans and content of tannins reactive toward salivary proteins. In contrast, no significant decrease in color intensity was detected due to the formation of polymeric pigments. For all wines, the closure with the highest oxygen ingress determined a higher intensity of red fruit notes.