A.P. Belchior

Aroma profile of Portuguese brandies aged in chestnut and oak woods

Abstract Much research has been made on the physico-chemical composition of brandies aged in oak wood but few sensorial data are available on brandies aged in oak wood and there is no sensorial data on brandies aged in chestnut wood. In the present work a panel of tasters evaluated the aroma attributes of a Portuguese Lourinha brandy, after 4 years of ageing. The taster panel generated the 11 aroma descriptors and the brandies were evaluated based on those descriptors, with a structured scale. A two factorial experiment ( 7 woods ×3 toasting levels×3 replicates) was used to compare the brandies aged in barrels made from seven different woods and each wood was submitted to three levels of toasting: light, medium and strong, with three replicates of each essay. The analysis of variance showed significant differences between the brandies aged in the seven different woods, concerning the intensities of vanilla, woody, caramel, burned, green, tails, glue and caoutchouc. The highest intensities of caramel and burned were found in the brandies aged in chestnut wood. The toasting level of the barrels had a significant effect on the majority of the aroma descriptors, namely fruity, vanilla, woody, spicy, caramel, burned, smoke, green, tails and glue. In fact, the brandies aged on strong toasted barrels presented the highest intensities of vanilla, woody, spicy, caramel, burned, smoke and the lowest intensities of fruity, green, tails and glue. According to our previous results, this work pointed out the interesting sensorial properties of the brandies aged in chestnut, and thus shows the possibility of the use of this wood on the brandies’ ageing.

Sensory and chemical modifications of wine-brandy aged with chestnut and oak wood fragments in comparison to wooden barrels

Wooden barrels are used in the ageing or maturation of many alcoholic beverages, namely brandies and wines. However, the high costs related to ageing in wooden barrels have led to a search for alternative technologies. In this study we examined the application of wood fragments to the beverage in order to promote an accelerated ageing. We evaluated the sensory and chemical modifications in brandy aged in presence of two types of wood fragments, from two different woods (Limousin oak wood and Portuguese chestnut wood), and compared those with a brandy aged in wooden barrels. The results of the analysis of variance revealed more significant effects of wood botanical species than the ageing system on the sensory attributes. Concerning the ageing system, significant differences in brandy colour attributes were found, namely golden, topaz and greenish; olfactory attributes such as alcoholic, toasted and coffee; and the gustatory attribute, bitter. The brandies aged in the presence of wood tablets presented the highest intensities of topaz and greenish colour, toasted and coffee odours, while the brandies aged in wooden barrels presented the highest intensities of golden colour, alcohol odour and bitter taste. However, the overall quality of the brandies was similar. The analysis of odourant compounds showed a great discrimination of the brandies based on the ageing system. The brandies aged in wooden barrels presented the highest levels of several ethyl esters, acids, furanic aldehydes and the lowest levels of volatile phenols. Thus, considering the overall quality of the brandies, these results suggest the use of wood fragments to be an interesting alternative technology. On the other hand, the chemical analysis of the brandies showed the possibility of discriminating the ageing technologies based on odourant compound levels.

HPLC method for the quantification of phenolic acids, phenolic aldehydes, coumarins and furanic derivatives in different kinds of toasted wood used for the ageing of brandies

A simple, rapid and accurate HPLC method allowing the quantification of phenolic acids, phenolic aldehydes, coumarins and furanic derivatives in different kinds of toasted wood used in the ageing of wine brandies was developed and validated. The validated method presents good linearity, low limits of detection and quantification (LOD ranging between 0.03 µg L-1 for umbelliferone and 1.10 mg L-1 for ellagic acid, and LOQ ranging between 0.09 µg L-1 for umbelliferone and 3.66 mg L-1 for ellagic acid), high sensitivity, good repeatability (relative standard deviations ranging between 0.25% and 2.21%) and suitable recovery (mean values higher than 90% for all the concentrations added and compounds, except for vanillic acid). It can therefore be of a great interest for research studies and for quality control in routine analyses requested by the brandy producers, coopers and technicians, as a tool to know the low molecular weight composition of the toasted wood. The analysis of four different kinds of toasted wood (chestnut, Portuguese oak, Limousin oak and American oak) demonstrates the applicability of the method on the characterization and differentiation of the wood botanical species.