Abstract

The study aimed to explore the most appropriate physical maturation periods of wines made from different raw materials. Eight wine samples stored for different periods including a hull-less barley wine, a maize wine, a rice wine and a glutinous rice wine were examined using laser Raman spectroscopy. The Raman intensity ratio at 3200/3400 cm was used as an indicator of the degree of physical maturation of the tested samples. Results showed that the most appropriate physical maturation periods were 15, 30 and 10 and 20 months, respectively for the hull-less barley wine, the maize wine, the rice wine and the glutinous rice wine, respectively; continued aging beyond these periods had almost no effect on physical maturation, except that it did lower the physical maturation of the glutinous rice wine. The maturation process for the maize wine was rapid and sustainable and the degree of maturation was excellent. Moreover, the Raman intensity ratio at the end of maturation was about 3-4 times that of the other wines; this finding was consistent with the sensory evaluation results. A good correlation between the Raman intensity ratio and the gross value for the total acidity and amino acid content was also found for the wines investigated.

Keywords:

Physical maturation, Raman intensity ratio, Raman spectroscopy, wine,

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Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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