Sensory impact of alternative ageing technology for the production of wine brandies

The production of wine brandies requires their stage in wooden barrels, for a minimum period of time, a process called ageing or maturation. Due to the high cost of this process, alternative technologies are being studied in order to accelerate the ageing process, such as the use of wood fragments inside of stainless steel tanks. The present work evaluates the influence of different ageing technologies on the sensory profile of the brandy. A brandy was aged, during two years, in 650 L wooden barrels and in 3000 L stainless steel tanks. Both had Limousin oak (Quercus robur) and Portuguese chestnut staves (Castanea sativa). The brandy samples were profiled by descriptive sensory analysis during the ageing period. The results showed that the kind of ageing system influences topaz, golden, woody, caramel, coffee, green and unctuous attributes, as well as the overall brandy quality. Despite these differences, the multidimensional analysis of the sensory results was not able to clearly distinguish the brandy samples from different ageing systems. The results, obtained at industrial scale, revealed an interesting alternative for the manufacturers: wine brandies can be produced through the use of wooden staves inside stainless steel tanks. Since this alternative ageing system provides a similar brandy sensory profile than the one obtained through wooden barrels, this new data can be used by researchers and manufacturers in order to develop new products. Furthermore, this alternative ageing technology allows the reduction of the ageing process costs.