The present work studied the effect of the kind of closure (a screw cap, a natural cork, and 2 synthetic closures) on the evolution of the oxygen content and on the physical-chemical and sensory characteristics of a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo rosé wine during the 1st 12 mo of bottle aging. The chemical analyses concerned the parameters more involved in the oxidative reactions (SO(2) , acetaldehyde, phenols, wine color), as well as the main fermentative volatile compounds. The kind of closure influenced the oxygen content in wines, free and total SO(2) concentration, and wine color (color intensity and hue). During bottle aging, free and total SO(2) concentration was significantly and negatively correlated with absorbance at 420 nm (A420), whereas the correlations with A520 were weak. Probably, the limited extent of the variations in red color (A520), when varying SO(2) concentration, were due to the low pH of this rosé wine. No effect of the kind of closure on phenols and the main fermentative volatile compounds was observed. The wines bottled with cork closures (N trials), after 12 mo of storage, had higher color intensity and hue, measured by spectrophotometry, and were visually distinguished from the other trials for the more intense pink reflections. On the whole, under the conditions of this work, all the used closures guaranteed a good preservability to the rosè wines during the 1st year of bottle aging, and the changes in composition did not significantly affect wine sensory characteristics. Therefore, these synthetic closures can represent an alternative to the cork closures for a medium to long term bottle aging of these wines.
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