Oak chips and wine samples
The French oak chips with a light toasting (mixed varieties of
Quercus sessiliflora and Quercus robur) were purchased from the
local company named HomeBrew in Ireland. The chips are approximately
in the cylindrical shape with an average length of 5.70 mm
and a diameter of 0.54 mm.
The wine used in this study was a young red wine, which was
purchased from a local winery in Massa, Italy. This wine was made
with mixed grape varieties of Merlot and Sangiovese from the vintage
of 2012. After fermentation, the wine was transferred to stainless
steel tanks without any other treatments and a small amount
of SO2 was added to make the total SO2 content 50 mg/L. The wine
samples purchased were directly taken from the stainless tanks
and they had stayed in the tanks for approximately 6 months. Prior
to HHP processing, all the wine samples were decanted, homogenized
gently and then bottled separately.