Effect of wine maturing on the colour and chemical properties of Chardonnay wine.

Untreated chardonnay wine was used as the raw material for this study. The wine samples were divided into three groups and monitored over 32 weeks. Three ways of wine maturation were used: glassware, wooden barrel and the addition of oak chips for 6 weeks, which can significantly increase total polyphenols (P < 0.05) and flavonoids (P < 0.05) concentration. The use of oak shavings had a comparable effect to the oak barrels. The use of oak shavings can replace wood barrels in the maturation process. The oak shavings also achieved lower oxygen concentration (P < 0.05) in wine. Ageing the Chardonnay increased (P < 0.05) the polyphenol concentration and had an impact on the wine colour under the different maturation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]