Aroma compound sorption by oak wood in a model wine.

Oak wood used for wine barrels was immersed into a model wine containing eight aroma compounds (e.g., aromatic and terpene alcohols, ethyl esters, and aldehyde), for which activity coefficients in water and model wine were determined using the mutual solubility measurement. A mass balance of these volatiles considering their reactivity in model wine was established. For most of the studied aroma compounds, and mainly for linalool and ethyl octanoate, a sorption behavior into wood was reported for the first time. This phenomenon was selective and could not be related to the solubilities in model wine and hydrophobicities of the studied aroma compounds, suggesting that acid-base and polar characteristics of wood were more involved in this sorption mechanism. This study has also shown that the level of sorption is a function of the ratio of wood surface area/solution volume.