During the storage of wines in bottles, especially white wines, tartrate crystallization often occurs, which reduces the commercial value of the wines and therefore needs to be avoided by performing cold stabilization treatments before bottling. However, whether different cold treatment durations impact the quality of a wine's aroma has not yet been of special concern. This research was conducted at an industrial scale to explore how cold treatments at -5.3 °C for 10 to 15 days impact the organic acids, aroma compounds, and sensory quality of Riesling dry white wines, and the variation was documented at the end of treatment, and at 6 and 12 months of bottle storage. The results showed that cold treatments significantly reduced tartaric acid concentrations and significantly affected the concentrations of most aroma components in the wines only after 12 months of bottle storage, including the main components of esters, norisoprenoids, terpenoids, and furfural. Moreover, the concentrations of some components showed an increasing trend with the bottle storage, especially 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN), the characteristic volatile of Riesling wine, suggesting that an acidic condition resulting from cold treatment might facilitate the conversion of some aroma precursors into volatiles. In conclusion, cold stabilization treatments, within limits, can improve tartaric acid stability and could promote the conservation of aroma compounds during bottle storage without adversely affecting the aroma profile of the wines.
Keywords: aroma; bottle storage; cold stabilization; organic acid; white wine.