BIO Web of Conferances, vol.9, pp.1-5, 2017 (Journal Indexed in SCI)
The aging of wine
requires a long time therefore it can cause loss of time and money. Therefore
using of new techniques for wine aging shortens the length of aging time and
wines may be placed on the market more quickly. Nowadays, gamma irradiation,
ultrasonic waves, AC electric field and micro-oxygenation are the new
techniques for wine aging. Gamma irradiation (after fermentation) is
accelerated physical maturation method. Gamma irradiation, in a suitable dosage
(200 Gy), is a suitable method for improving some wine defects and producing a
higher taste quality in wine. The 20 kHz ultrasonic waves aged wine much more
quickly than standard aging, with similar quality. The wine treated by 20 kHz
ultrasonic waves had a taste equivalent to 1 year aged wine. Wine maturing with
AC electric field promises novel process accelerating aging process of fresh
wine when suitable conditions are applied. As a result of research, an optimum
treatment (electric field 600 V/cm and duration time 3 min) was identified to
accelerate wine aging. Harsh and pungent raw wine become harmonious and dainty.
This process is equivalent to 6 month aging in oak barrel. Microoxygenation is
a very important technique used in aging wines in order to improve their
characteristics. The techniques of wine tank aging imply the use of small doses
of oxygen (2ml L-1 month(-1)) and the addition of wood pieces of oak to the
wine. Studies concerning these new techniques demonstrated that maturation of
wines become more quickly than standard maturation procedures with keeping and
improving the wine quality.