Migration of polyphenols from natural and microagglomerated cork stoppers to hydroalcoholic solutions and their sensory impact

During bottling aging, the wine comes into contact with the cork stopper due to the horizontal position of the bottle. The release of compounds, such as cork phenolic compounds, thus take place between the cork and the wine, depending on the type of cork stopper and the surface treatments applied. Many publications describe the extraction of these phenolic compounds in wine or hydroalcoholic solutions from natural corks, but few address microagglomerated corks, which are increasingly used by winemakers to seal their bottles. The aim of this study was therefore to compare the polyphenols, mainly hydrolysable tannins, transferred from natural and microagglomerated corks treated with supercritical CO2 into hydroalcoholic solutions. For this purpose, polyphenols released in macerates of natural and microagglomerated cork stoppers were identified and quantified by HPLC-DAD-ESI-QQQ. Suberic acid was also quantified. In this study, despite the high intra-natural cork stopper variability, significant differences were found between both types of stoppers for all polyphenols, the agglomerated corks releasing significantly less polyphenols; i.e., 25 times less. In contrast, suberic acid was extracted from both types of corks in similar concentrations; therefore, its extractability was not impacted by the type of stopper. A sensory profile was also carried out on the macerates. Macerates of natural cork stoppers were perceived with notes of cardboard, dust, plank, wood and cork taint significantly higher than supercritical CO2 treated microagglomerated cork stopper macerates. Moreover, the natural cork macerate with the highest content in polyphenol was perceived as being more bitter than that of microagglomerated cork stoppers.

Automated summary

This study compared the polyphenols released from natural and microagglomerated cork stoppers treated with supercritical CO2 into hydroalcoholic solutions. The results showed that the agglomerated corks released significantly less polyphenols compared to natural corks, while the release of suberic acid was similar. Sensory analysis also revealed that the hydroalcoholic solutions from natural cork stoppers had a wider range of sensory characteristics and a stronger bitter taste compared to those from microagglomerated cork stoppers.