Artificial aging of wines using oak chips

Wine treated with oak chips was analysed for its contents of furfural, vanillin, guaiacol, oak lactone, eugenol and syringaldehyde. These wood-originated volatiles were released into the wine and their levels were measured by gas chromatography, at different time intervals, for fourteen days. The amounts measured were compared to those found in barrel-aged wine. Statistical analysis of the data indicates that syringaldehyde, primarily, and then vanillin, guaiacol and furfural can be used to discriminate artificially aged from barrel-aged wine. Two different sizes of oak chips were used for this study.