The effect of in-amphorae aging on oenological parameters, phenolic profile and volatile composition of Minutolo white wine Antonietta Baiano a, ⁎, Annalisa Mentana a , Maurizio Quinto a , Diego Centonze a , Francesco Longobardi b , Andrea Ventrella b , Angela Agostiano b , Gabriella Varva a , Antonio De Gianni a , Carmela Terracone a , Matteo Alessandro Del Nobile a a Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, degli Alimenti e dell'Ambiente, University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25 - 71122 Foggia, Italy b Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Orabona, 4, 70126 Bari, Italy abstract article info Article history: Received 13 January 2015 Received in revised form 13 April 2015 Accepted 18 April 2015 Available online 24 April 2015 Keywords: Antioxidant Container NMR Phenolic Volatile Chemical compounds studied in this article: Caftaric acid (PubChem CID: 6440397) Procyanidin B3 (PubChem CID: 146798) Astilbin (PubChem CID: 119258) Sulfur dioxide (PubChem CID: 1119) A wine was obtained from cryomacerated Minutolo grapes under reductive conditions and aged for 12 months in glass container and in 3 types of amphorae. After aging, wines in glass containers showed the highest alcohol content, volatile acidity, dissolved oxygen, concentrations of aromatics, alcohols, and esters and by the lowest contents of enols and terpenes. They also showed the highest decrease of flavonoids, hydroxycinnamoyl tartaric acids, and procyanidins. Wines in raw amphorae showed the dramatic decrease of flavonoids and flavans reactive with vanillin. The highest antioxidant activity was exhibited by wines in engobe amphorae, while the lowest values were showed by the wines in glass containers and glazed amphorae. Caftaric acid and procyanidin B3 decreased in wine aged under glass while epicatechin mainly reduced in raw amphorae. According to the Principal Component Analysis, the wines resulted homogeneously grouped as a function of the type of container in which were aged. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Wine contains different chemical substances that influence the sensory characteristics of the final product. Amount and type of these components can be opportunely modified by managing viticultural practices, winemaking process, aging, and type of containers and closures. Phenolic compounds are important components of wine. They not only contribute to their sensory profiles, such as color, flavor and astrin- gency (Lee & Jaworsky, 1987), but may also act as antioxidants, with mechanisms involving both free-radical scavenging and metal chelation (Benítez, Castro, Sánchez Pazo, & Barroso, 2002). The composition and concentration of phenolic components in wine depends not only on grape variety and wine-making procedures, but also on the chemical reactions that happen during aging (Peña-Neira, Hernández, García- Vallejo, Estrella, & Suarez, 2000). A fundamental role in wine sensory profile and consumer prefer- ences is also played by volatile compounds. The aromatic profile of wine is the result of important modifications deriving from esterifica- tion, hydrolysis, redox reactions, slow and continuous diffusion of oxy- gen, spontaneous clarification, and CO 2 elimination (Camara, Alves, & Marques, 2006). As a result of these physical and chemical changes, the volatile fraction is extremely complex, accounting for more than 1000 compounds (Poláková, Herszage, & Ebeler, 2008), which belong to different chemical classes, and cover a wide range of polarities, solu- bility, and volatility values. Aging can be made in different containers, such as stainless steel tanks, oak barrels, clay vessels, with the aim of enhancing wine flavor. Stainless steel tanks are inert containers while wood and clay interact with wine. Aging in wood changes color, structure, phenolic profile (Tesfaye, Morales, García-Parrilla, & Troncoso, 2002) and aroma (Callejón, Morales, Silva Ferreira, & Troncoso, 2008) since it is a material enable to make a micro-oxygenation of wine and to release phenolic and aromatic substances while adsorbing other wine components. However, in the case of white wines the aging in oak barrels is not al- ways advantageous since both the oxygen could oxidize the wine and Food Research International 74 (2015) 294–305 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 881 589249. E-mail address: antonietta.baiano@unifg.it (A. Baiano). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2015.04.036 0963-9969/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Research International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodres