The influence of cation exchange treatment on the final characteristics of red wines

Ion exchange technology has been applied to adjust the pH of red wine and improve its tartaric and oxidative stability. Ion exchange appears to be a useful technique to achieve these objectives. Regarding the effect of ion exchange on organoleptic characteristics and the quality of the obtained wines, a slight decrease in both anthocyanin and tannin contents was observed along with a small drop in the aromatic content. However, the treated wines had lower hue and higher colour intensity and gave better punctuations in the sensory evaluation. These results confirm that ion exchange is an interesting technique for application in red winemaking. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.