Wijnmakers die vooral ‘gezonde’ wijn willen maken, met een maximum aan anti-oxidanten, kunnen het beste Europees eikenhout gebruiken. Die conclusie is het resultaat van een studie naar de invloed van verschillende soorten hout bij het rijpen van wijn. De studie werd met bronvermelding gepubliceerd op de website ‘ theacademicwino’. Lijkt erg theoretisch, maar is zeker van belang bij het kiezen van de rijpingsmethode. Al zegt die conclusie niets over de uiteindelijke smaak van de wijn, waarom het ten slotte toch gaat. Soms lijkt het erop dat wijnmakers maar wat proberen. Of experimenteren, omdat ze zelf niet precies weten wat voor soort hout of welke combinatie van nieuw en gebruikt het best geschikt is voor het type wijn dat ze beogen. De onderzoekers vatten hun bevindingen als volgt samen:

“The species of wood used in cooperage for winemaking or any other alcoholic beverage aging has a significant influence on the antioxidant capacity of that wood. These differences were due to specific polyphenol content differences between the different wood species. If a winemaker is strictly looking to maximize the antioxidant capacity of the finished wine, they may opt to select a type of wood that is higher in specific phenol concentrations and overall antioxidant capacity, such as chestnut or the European oak Q. robur.

Of course, using different types of wood for aging will also change the sensory characteristics of the wine, so a lot needs to be considered before choosing a particular species. If the overall goal is to create a wine with specific sensory characteristics, then this type of analysis may not be particularly important. However, if one is designing a wine to be “healthier”, by containing higher levels of phenols and antioxidant capacity, then studies like these are of utmost importance.

Since different grapes contain significantly different antioxidant and phenol levels, determination of which variety to use is very important. After that decision has been made, then studies like this that explore antioxidant capacities of different types of wood are very important in maximizing the total potential antioxidant capacity of the finished wine.

This study was a great next step in this line of research. Next, I’d like to see a study age model wines in different types of wood (using different varieties of grapes) while measuring the antioxidant capacity and phenol content of the finished wine and potentially correlating that to the antioxidant capacity and phenol content of the wood itself”.