Sensory descriptive analysis of a red wine aged with oak chips in stainless steel tanks or used barrels:: Effect of the contact time and size of the oak chips

The influence of adding oak chips to a wine stored either in a stainless steel tank or in used barrels was assessed by sensory analysis, using descriptive analysis as well as triangular tests to determine whether differences between the samples could be clearly perceived. Both the size of the oak chips and the length of contact time were studied. The results were also compared with the scores reached by wines aged in new oak barrels. The sensory analyses showed that when the wines were aged in tanks, the effect of adding oak chips was readily appreciated by the panelists and the differences were clearer than when the panelist had to differentiate wines aged in used barrels, with or without chips. Also, the panelists were able to clearly differentiate between wines aged in new barrels and those aged in tanks and in contact with wood chips. When the wood pieces were added to used barrels, the differences between the resulting wine and that aged in new barrels, although smaller were still perceived, the latter reaching higher scores in the sensory analysis.