First approach to the use of wood from Mediterranean species for the accelerated aging of alcoholic beverages

The aging of alcoholic beverages in wood barrels is a very common practice that allows the improvement of the organoleptic characteristics of the products. Although oak wood is most usually used for manufacturing barrels, the new trends based on accelerated aging processes by using wood chips have encouraged the study of other wood species that could confer its specific characteristics for obtaining differentiated beverages. In this work, three Mediterranean wood species, olive tree ( Olea europaea L.), almond tree ( Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb) and common grape vine ( Vitis vinífera L. (White Grenache)), as well as the usual French oak ( Quercus petraea (Matt) Liebl.) were macerated in alcohol–water solution to determine optimal extraction conditions, evaluating the polyphenol extraction, color parameters and organoleptic characteristics. To do that, a central composite design was applied to each wood species considering the toasting level, the dose of chips and alcoholic strength of the extracting solution. In addition, a kinetics study was carried out. From the results, it can be suggested that the optimum conditions for the accelerated aging (based on polyphenol extraction) are a high toasting level of chips, a dose of 18 g/L and macerating in an alcoholic solution of 60% v/v, for a minimum period of 70 days. Sensory analysis showed that the organoleptic characteristics of almond and vine wood are similar to those of French oak, except for the vanilla parameter (higher in both wood species compared to oak), and that the vine wood also presents a more smoky character. Olive wood differs from other wood species due to a greater fruit and floral character, and organoleptic characteristics less associated with oak wood.