Accelerated Aging against Conventional Storage: Effects on the Volatile Composition of Chardonnay White Wines

The effects of time (storage period) and temperature (accelerated aging) on Chardonnay white wines have been evaluated. Attention was focused on a large extent of individual volatile compounds, scarcely previously reported in that kind of wines. On the one hand, several volatile compounds (mainly esters, benzenic compounds, C₁₃‐norisoprenoids, acids, and terpenes) showed the same behavior when temperature and time were applied separately. Therefore, the effect of 1 y of storage could be predicted by temperature application during short time, just analyzing those volatile compounds. Moreover, the formation of some volatile compounds (such as dioxanes, dioxolanes, and 1,2‐dihydro‐1,1,6‐trimethylnaphtalene (TDN)) and the disappearance of some alcohols, terpenes, and furanic compounds occurred in both conventional stored and accelerated‐aged wines. On the other hand, wines submitted to high temperature differed from 1‐y stored wines on several volatile compounds, such as β‐damascenone, C₆‐alcohols, dioxolanes, γ‐butyrolactone, and TDN. Therefore, it is possible to assert that the analysis of these compounds could allow checking the possible inadequate handling by employing an excessive temperature.