Evolution of wine vinegar composition during accelerated aging with oak chips

Accelerated aging of vinegars using oak chips has been tested in this work as an alternative to traditional aging in wood barrels. A wine vinegar was submitted to different aging assays involving two oak chips pretreatments and three different levels of alcohol content (0.1, 1 and 2°). Total phenol index (TPI), dry extract, major volatile compounds determined by gas chromatography (GC), non-volatile phenolic compounds (by liquid chromatography) as well as volatile compounds from wood (by GC with previous solid phase extraction) were followed for 90 days. Sensory analysis was performed by triangle and descriptive tests. The TPI increased significantly after 15 days of aging whereas the dry extract remained practically constant. Oak chips pretreatments influenced the content of whisky lactones. Moreover, an alcohol content of at least 1% (v/v) produced higher concentrations of ethyl acetate. Panelists found significantly differences (P<0.1) between samples with different alcohol concentrations.