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May 2016 WINES&VINES 49 PACKAGING The differences on a sensory level were already clear after two months of preserva- tion, but a panel judged the wine as being still pleasant and drinkable up to three months after bottling. In light of the results, the PLA bottles allow a wine to be preserved up to a maximum of three months, with the advantage of the packaging being that it's biodegradable. In PET bottles, the phenom- ena of oxidation and "scalping" were ob- served, highlighted by absorbance at 420 nm and analysis of volatile compounds. How- ever, there were no significant differences on a sensory level; for this reason, this type of bottle can be an alternative to glass if wines have an expected shelf life of four months of less from the packaging date. Ghidossi et al., (2012) studied the quality evolution of some white and red Bordeaux wines (2008 vintage) packaged in different ways for a period of 18 months. They used bottles made of glass, single-layer PET (0.3 mm thick) and multi-layer PET MXD6 (0.4 mm thick), with capacities of 750ml and 185ml as well as 3-liter bag-in-boxes. For the white wine, the glass and multi-layer PET bottles proved to be the best barrier against oxygen; however, neither the single-layer, multi-layer PET bottles nor the BiBs allowed adequate preservation of the wine after 12 months. For red wine, differences were ob- served at the end of the test. Dombre et al., (2015) studied the evolu- tion of the aromatic profile of a rosé wine bottled in glass, virgin PET and recycled PET and preserved for five months. The wines differed, but only in some compounds. In the PET bottles there was a decrease in the compounds sensitive to oxygen, such as methionols, and the appearance of com- pounds typical of oxidized wine: ethyl py- ruvate, furfural or dioxane compounds. Compared to tests in PET, those in recycled PET showed small differences. Loss of flavor was due to the chemical evolution of the wine rather than absorption by the PET. For the moderate permeability to oxygen, the use of virgin and recycled PET bottles may be adopted for wines with short shelf lives, but both can have a negative impact on quality if the wine is not consumed within a short period. Maria Carla Cravero is a researcher with CREA, the Council for Research in Agriculture and Analysis of the Agricultural Economy, Research Centre for Enol- ogy in Asti, Italy The references for this article are available online at winesandvines.com Made In California sales @ giftboxcompany.com www.giftboxcompanyusa.com (562) 926 - 6888 HARD COVER WINE GIFT BOX The Gift Box Company Attention Detail NAPA FERMENTATION SUPPLIES Contact us today! 575 ird St. Bldg. A Napa CA 94559 707-255-6372 | napafermentation@aol.com www.napafermentation.com Your One-Stop Shop Since 1983! In addition to wine bottles, PET is used to package a variety of other food and beverage products including soda, condiments and fresh fruit.