Wine Storage at Cellar vs. Room Conditions: Changes in the Aroma Composition of Riesling Wine

Storage temperature is one of the most important factors affecting wine aging. Along with bottling parameters (type of stopper, SO(2) level and dissolved O(2) in wine), they determine how fast wine will evolve, reach its optimum and decline in sensory quality. At the same time, lowering of the SO(2) level in wine has been a hot topic in recent years. In the current work, we investigated how Riesling wine evolved on the molecular level in warm (~25 °C) and cool (~15 °C) conditions depending on the SO(2) level in the wine (low, medium and high), flushing of the bottle’s headspace with CO(2) and three types of stoppers (Diam 30, Diam 30 origin and Diam 5) with different OIR levels (0.8–1.3 mg) and OTR levels (0.3–0.4 mg/year). It was demonstrated that the evolution of primary and secondary aromas, wine color and low molecular weight sulfur compounds (LMWSCs) during the two years of aging mainly depended on the storage temperature. Variation in the SO(2) level and CO(2) in the headspace affected mostly certain LMWSCs (H(2)S, MeSH) and β-damascenone. New aspects of C(13)-norisprenoids and monoterpenoids behavior in Riesling wine with different levels of SO(2) and O(2) were discussed. All three types of stoppers showed very close wine preservation properties during the two years of storage. The sensory analysis revealed that, after only six months, the warm stored wines with a low SO(2) level were more oxidized and different from the samples with medium and high SO(2) levels. A similar tendency was also observed for the cool stored samples.