Influence of oak woods of different geographical origins on quality of wines aged in barriques and using oak chips

Wine ageing in wood barrels is a traditional practice in quality wine-making areas. It is generally believed that the organoleptic characteristics of wines aged in barrels are deeply influenced by wood geographical origin, as well as by age of barrels (new or used). The main purpose of this work was to investigate the variation of some qualitative characteristics of a local red wine aged in medium-toasted barrels made of oak wood from four different French forests: Allier, Never, Troncais and Limousin. A second target was the evaluation of the persistence of the influence of the wood geographical origin on wine characteristics with the use of old barrels and wood-shaving chips. Therefore, we chose the mostly appreciated wood typologies in the wine barrel making industry. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.