Abstract
Abstract. Aims: The management of O2, CO2 and SO2 at bottling and the choice of the closure are two keyfactors of the shelf life of wine in bottles before bringing them to market. The impact of four screw caps, twosynthetic and two technical corks was evaluated on a red wine of Merlot/Tannat.Methods and results: Analytical monitoring (O2, CO2, SO2, aphrometric pressure, L*, a*, b*) was carriedout during 538 days of storage at 20 ◦C. Two sensory analyses at 10 and 17 months completed the study.The wine was bottled with an average total oxygen content of 2 mg/L. The heterogeneity intra and interprocedure was controlled, including for the dissolved carbon dioxide content.Conclusion: Unlike closures with highest OTR, the two technical corks and the two screw caps with Saranexseal, harboring the lowest OTR, matched with the wines exhibiting a low total O2 content at equilibrium(from 4th to 18th month), with more free SO2 and less changed colour. However this OTR gradient (5 to67μg/d) observed through the physicochemical analyses was not necessarily confirmed by both sensoryanalyses performed.Significance and impact of study: This study puts into perspective the impact of OTR closure on sensorycharacteristics evolution of wine consumed during the first two years, especially when the total oxygen atbottling exceeds 1.5 mg/L.