Statistical differentiation of wines of different geographic origin and aged in barrel according to some volatile components and ethylphenols

The purpose of this paper was to study the effect of wine composition and geographical origin on the accumulation of volatile compounds in barrel-aged wines. Therefore, 267 wines belonging to different origin appellations were analysed. In order to analyse the data, a multivariate statistical technique was applied, that can be quite useful in creating an overall view of the problem in which multiple variables are analysed. Statistical analysis gave four significant factors, accounting for 84.12% of the variance. These factors summarise the information of a group of variables closely correlated to each other. Factor 1 grouped together oak lactones and eugenol, so it was associated with oak barrel type and with toasting of barrels. Factor 2 was associated with ethylphenols, related to wine quality diminution. Factor 3 grouped together guaiacol, furfural, and 5-methylfurfural, and was thus associated with wood thermal degradation; factor 4 was associated with the cis/trans ratio, related to oak origin. Whereas geographical origin of wines affected the accumulation of volatile compounds, the cis/trans ratio was only affected by oak barrel type. Among the tested parameters, alcoholic degree was the enological parameter that had the greatest effect on the accumulation of volatile compounds in wines. Oak lactones were the compounds that were present in all wines, so they could be used as oak ageing indicators.