Oxygen exposure is unavoidable and the impact of its management during the post-fermentation stage (PFS) on dry red wine is poorly investigated. This study was dedicated to the variation of acetaldehyde, color and phenolics of Cabernet Sauvignon dry red wine during five discontinuous oxidation cycles of four levels of controlled oxygen supply, which were carried out to simulate probable oxidation during the PFS. Free SO2 disappeared after the first, second and third oxidation cycles in wines with high, medium and low levels of oxygen exposure severally, but subsequent oxygen exposure below or equal to 2 mg O2/L per cycle had little effect while 3-3.9 mg O2/L per cycle dramatically facilitated acetaldehyde accumulation, which was accompanied by an enormous variation in color and pigments, especially when total oxygen consumption was above 10 mg/L. The utilization of clustered heatmap and partial least square regression demonstrated the feasibility of characterization of wine oxidation degree using the chemical parameters measured by UV-spectrophotometry. Oxygen exposure during the PFS should be emphatically controlled, and chemical indexes determined by the UV-spectrophotometric method can be used for a scientific and effective description of wine oxidation degree.
Keywords: acetaldehyde; color; oxidation; phenolics; post-fermentation stages; wine.