Impact of the Wood Species Used on the Chemical Composition, Color and Sensory Characteristics of Wine

In recent decades, the use of wood pieces has been promoted as a viable alternative to barrels to improve the quality of white wines. However, most available studies have focused on red wines. Given that white and red wines present significant oenological differences that affect their development and final characteristics, it is necessary to expand research specifically to the case of white wines. For this reason, this study evaluates the impact of using pieces of traditional oak wood (<i>Quercus petraea</i> (two origins: French and Romanian) and <i>Quercus alba</i>), other oaks (<i>Quercus humboldtti</i> and <i>Quercus candicans</i>) and other genera (<i>Robinia pseudoacacia</i>, <i>Acacia dealbata</i>, <i>Prunus avium</i> and <i>Nothofagus pumilio</i>) on the quality of white wine during the short period of contact with the wood. The results show that aging with the different woods has little effect on the oenological parameters of the wine; however, it does lead to a change in the phenolic composition and in the final chromatic characteristics of the white wines. From a sensory point of view, the wines showed different sensory profiles depending on the type of wood used. In general, the tasting panel preferred the white wine aged with French <i>Quercus petraea</i> wood pieces, followed by the wine aged with <i>Quercus humboldtti</i> wood pieces and the wine aged with <i>Robinia speudoacacia</i> wood pieces. This research improves our understanding of the potential impact of using pieces of different woods in white wines, describing the potential interest of some that have not been studied before, such as <i>Quercus humboldtti</i>.