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Visit to Carpineto Winery in Tuscany Italy

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Founded in 1967, Carpineto is a partnership between Giovanni C. Sacchet and Antonio M. Zaccheo, whose original mission was to produce a world-class red wine from the Chianti Classico appellation.

Company Carpineto has four properties: Greve in Chianti (fraction Dudda – Chianti Classico), Gaville, Chianciano Montepulciano (Vino Nobile area) and Gavorrano. Greve in Chianti, located at 300 meters above sea level.

This winery believes in aging of wine in American oak barrel. Most of their commercial products are aged in barrel for at least 2 years. So I would like to discuss below effect of aging of wine in Oak wood barrels. These below explanations was been taken from Wine science by-Ronald S. Jackson.

Effects of Aging

Age-related changes in wine chemistry have long been noted. Initially, these modify cations are favourable. They result in the dissipation of the yeasty aspect and spritzy character of newly fermented wines. Subsequently, there is a loss of the fresh fruitiness of the wine. If this is accompanied by the development of an appreciated aged bouquet and smoother mouth-feel, the consequences of aging are highly desirable. To encourage these latter processes, most wine connoisseurs store wine in cool cellars for years to decades. Regrettably, most wines do not age particularly well. Most white wines are recommended to be consumed within a few years of production. Most red wines improve or retain their flavour for little more than 5–10 years. In reality, though, these views reflect professional opinion. It is often thought that most consumers prefer the fresh fruity character of young wines vs. the more general, subtle aspects of an aged bouquet. However, this may simply reflect their disinterest in aging wine, or their acceptance (or insensitivity to) the rough astringency of many young red wines. Non enzymatic oxidative reactions produce significant sensory changes during aging. This involves the transfer of an electron (or hydrogen atom) from the oxidized compound to oxygen, or another acceptor. In bottled wine, reactions involving molecular oxygen occur slowly, as oxygen diffuses into the bottle via the cork, or between the cork and the neck. Temperature, pH and the phenolic content significantly affect a wine’s oxidative potential. It is estimated that wine can combine with up to about 6 mg/litre O2 (saturation at 20 ºC) within a week or less, depending on the wine’s phenolic content (Singleton and Cilliers, 1995). Other oxidative reactions (not involving molecular oxygen) occur during wine aging, but their influence on wine fragrance and taste are little known. The presence of copper and iron ions are the best known of wine oxidative catalysts. Because the redox potential of wine declines after bottling, reductive reactions are almost undoubtedly involved in wine aging. As with other aspects of wine chemistry, determining the significance of changes is more difficult than detecting them. To establish their significance, it is necessary to show that the changes detectably impact sensory perception. Because most chemicals occur at concentrations below their sensory threshold, most changes affect neither wine flavour nor the development of an aged bouquet.

APPEARANCE

One of the most obvious changes during aging is a progressive browning. Red wines may initially deepen in colour after fermentation, but intensity slowly fades as the tint takes on a ruby and then a brickish hue. These changes result from a disassociation of self-association and copigment anthocyanin complexes (typical of young wines), the formation of new pigments (pyranoanthocyanins, catechinpyrylium, and xanthylium pigments), and the progressive formation of both tannin–tannin and anthocyanin–tannin complexes

TASTE AND MOUTH-FEEL SENSATIONS

During aging, residual glucose and fructose may react with other compounds and undergo structural rearrangement. Nevertheless, these reactions do not appear to occur to a degree sufficient to affect perceptible sweetness. In contrast, aging can affect acidity, inducing small but perceptible losses. For example, esterification of acids, such as tartaric acid, removes carboxyl groups involved in the sensation of sourness. Upwards of 1.5 g/ litre of ethyl bitartrate may form during aging (Edwardset al., 1985). Slow deacidification also can result from the isomerization of the natural L- to the D- form of tartaric acid. The racemic mixture is less soluble than the L-form. This is one of the origins of tartrate instability in wine. Isomerization also results in forming racemic mixtures of L- and D-amino acids (Chaves das Neves et al., 1990). The potential significance of the toxicity of the d-amino acids is unknown. It is probably negligible due to the small amino acid content in wine.

FRAGRANCE

Whereas studies on aging in red wines have concentrated primarily on colour change, most research on the aging of white wines has focused on fragrance modify cation. Flavour loss, especially in young white wines, is associated with changes in their ester content. Other known sources of reduced fragrance involve structural rearrangements in terpenes and volatile phenols.

Bibliography
Wine science by-Ronald S. Jackson.

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