Chemical and Sensory Profile of Grape Distillates Aged in Casks Previously Used for Sherry Wine or Brandy.

This work investigates the influence of oak-cask ageing on the chemical composition and sensory profile of a variety of grape distillates. Wine spirit, wine distillate, neutral alcohol, and grape marc distillate were investigated. It is known that the characteristics of the ageing casks may have a considerable impact on the ageing process, so casks that had previously contained some type of sherry wine, sherry cask, and casks that had previously contained brandy were studied.

Comparative study on the use of seasoned or unseasoned casks made of wood from different origins for the ageing of Sherry vinegar.

Background: In the present study, the ageing process of Sherry vinegar in used (seasoned) or new casks made of chestnut, American oak, Spanish oak or French oak wood has been investigated, considering that no research has investigated whether this seasoning has a definite influence on the final composition of the aged beverage. The polyphenolic and volatile contents of the aged vinegars were determined and their sensory properties were evaluated. Different statistical tools were applied to the data collected.

Analytical and Chemometric Characterization of Sweet Pedro Ximénez Sherry Wine during Its Aging in a System.

Pedro Ximénez is a naturally sweet sherry wine produced in southern Spain from raisined Pedro Ximénez grape must and aged using a traditional system. Complete analytical characterization has been useful in determining which parameters are the most influential in the aging of this wine. The organic acids, volatile compounds (higher alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and acetals), and phenolic compounds of this wine evolve during its aging, mainly through physico-chemical reactions and the contributions of wood compounds.

Analytical, Chemometric and Sensorial Characterization of Oloroso and Palo Cortado Sherries during Their Ageing in the System.

Oloroso and Palo Cortado are two types of sherry wines, produced in the Sherry Wine Region in Southern Spain, known as where it is aged following the traditional system. All of them are aged through oxidative ageing, even though the peculiar Palo Cortado Sherry wine is also aged biologically under a veil of flor yeasts in the first stage. Total dry extract, organic acids, aldehydes, esters, higher alcohols and phenolic compounds in these sherry wines evolve during their ageing as a consequence of evaporation and/or perspiration processes, chemical reactions, extraction of compounds from oakwood and microbiological activity.

A Study on the Influence of the Use of Sulphur Dioxide, the Distillation System and the Aging Conditions on the Final Sensory Characteristics of Brandy.

Brandy is a unique alcoholic beverage obtained from wine distillates. Numerous studies have been published on its physicochemical traits and the effect of certain elaboration variables on them, but not many studies have been carried out from a sensory point of view or that have followed standardized methods applicable to this discipline. This study intends to determine the effect that certain production variables have on the sensory characteristics of brandy.

Comparative Evaluation of Brandy de Jerez Aged in American Oak Barrels with Different Times of Use.

Brandy de Jerez is a European Geographical Indication for grape-derived spirits aged in oak casks that have previously contained any kind of Sherry wine and, therefore, are known as . Wood compounds have a substantial influence in the quality of the brandies that are aged in the barrels. In the cellar, the barrels that have been used for many years to keep Sherry wine or other wine spirits are often used for this purpose.

Use of ultrasound at a pilot scale to accelerate the ageing of sherry vinegar.

In the present work, the accelerated ageing process of sherry vinegar has been studied at pilot scale by means of the joint application of ultrasound, micro-oxygenation and wood chips (American oak, French oak and Spanish oak). The CIELab parameters have been studied as well as the polyphenolic and volatile content of the aged vinegar samples. Vinegars aged with American oak presented different chromatic characteristics to those aged with French and Spanish oak and a lower polyphenolic and volatile content than the latter ones.

Flavored Sherry vinegar with citric notes: Characterization and effect of ultrasound in the maceration of orange peels.

Accelerated maceration experiments of orange peels in Sherry vinegar employing ultrasounds (US) have been carried out. Their effect on the vinegaŕs volatile composition as well as on its olfactometric and sensory characteristics have been evaluated. The optimal conditions for the ultrasounds were determined as follows: sonication power 550 W/L; pulses 40 s On and 20 s Off; with orange peel 200 g/L established previously.

Use of Sensory Analysis to Investigate the Influence of Climate Chambers and Other Process Variables in the Production of Sweet Wines.

In this study, a climate chamber, as an alternative method, has been used to dry raisins and the sensory profiles of the sweet sherry wines obtained have been evaluated. Other important factors, namely grape variety, vintage, vinification conditions, as well as the ageing method and its length of time, have also been considered. When heavy rainfall had been registered, the musts extracted from grapes dried under controlled conditions in a climate chamber showed a lower intensity of the musty off-odor compared to those elaborated with sun-dried grapes.

Analytical Characterization and Sensory Analysis of Distillates of Different Varieties of Grapes Aged by an Accelerated Method.

The wine spirits used for the elaboration of Brandy de Jerez are mainly obtained from wines produced from the Airén type of grape, which comes from the vineyards located in the region of La Mancha (Central Spain). This entails a limitation when achieving a product classified as "protected geographic designation". For that purpose, it is necessary that the grape used for the wine spirit comes from the area and not from Castile la Mancha, as has happened until now.

Use of Alternative Wood for the Ageing of Brandy de Jerez.

The use of alternative types of wood has arisen for the aging of the Brandy de Jerez, on a pilot plant level. In particular, besides the use of American oak, two more types of oak have been studied, French oak and Spanish oak, allowed by the Technical File for the ID Brandy de Jerez, and chestnut, which, though it is not officially allowed, is a type of wood which had been traditionally used in the area for the aging of wines and distillates. All of them have been studied with different toasting levels: Intense toasting and medium toasting.

Volatile composition of Pedro Ximénez and Muscat sweet Sherry wines from sun and chamber dried grapes: a feasible alternative to the traditional sun-drying.

Sweet Sherry wines from Pedro Ximénez and Muscat sun and chamber-dried grapes during vintages 2009 and 2010 were aged in American oak wood for 12 months. Their volatile content was periodically analyzed using SBSE-GC-MS. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis demonstrated that the volatile compounds considered can be used to detect grape variety and vintage.

Novel vinegar-derived product enriched with dietary fiber: effect on polyphenolic profile, volatile composition and sensory analysis.

Dietary fiber derived from citrus fruits was added to vinegar. Different sources and quantities of fiber and storage conditions have been scrutinized. Formulated vinegars were evaluated on the basis of their phenolic profile, volatile composition and sensory analysis.

Development and optimisation by means of sensory analysis of new beverages based on different fruit juices and sherry wine vinegar.

Background: Despite the long history of sherry wine vinegar, new alternatives of consumption are being developed, with the aim of diversifying its market. Several new acetic-based fruit juices have been developed by optimising the amount of sherry wine vinegar added to different fruit juices: apple, peach, orange and pineapple. Once the concentrations of wine vinegar were optimised by an expert panel, the aforementioned new acetic fruit juices were tasted by 86 consumers.

Optimizing the process of making sweet wines to minimize the content of ochratoxin A.

During the drying process of raisins, the grapes are subjected to climatic variations that can result in heavy infections of some fungal species that produce ochratoxin A (OTA), a powerful toxic metabolite, whose maximum permitted content is set by the European Union at 2.0 μg/L for grapes, wine and other drinks derived from the grape. The aim of this paper is to optimize the process of making sweet wines in order to minimize the content of ochratoxin A.

Study of the polyphenolic composition and antioxidant activity of new sherry vinegar-derived products by maceration with fruits.

Several experiments of maceration of a sherry wine vinegar with different fruits (orange, lemon, strawberry, grapefruit, and lime) have been carried out. After optimization (only peel, no heating and seven days as maximum time of maceration), parameters such as polyphenolic content, superoxide anion scavenging ability (related to antioxidant activity) and ascorbic acid content were determined in sherry wine vinegars macerated with two amounts of peel and for two maceration times (3 and 7 days). The analysis of variance pointed to a clear relationship (p<0.