The aged wine spirit is one of the most representative alcoholic beverages taking into account its production and trade worldwide. Its manufacture has a long history and a relevant socioeconomic role in the traditional wine-producing countries, mainly located in Europe. Portugal takes an important position in this scenario due to the substantial number of Geographical Denominations producing wine spirit. Among them, Lourinhã stands out as an exclusive Denomination for this purpose alike French regions of Cognac and Armagnac.

In Europe, the ageing of wine spirit in wooden barrels is a crucial step of the production technology since it confers the beverage sensory properties previously absent. Despite the high quality achieved by the wine spirit through this ageing technology, it has some economic and environmental drawbacks associated with a low production efficiency and high cost, and with the increasing demand for wood, which is a resource with limited availability.

Novel ageing technologies, mainly those using wood pieces in wine spirit kept in stainless steel tanks, are of increasing importance for the industry as a sustainable alternative to the traditional one. In the last thirteen years, the project’s team has been studying the physicochemical and sensory implications of this technology. It led to conclude that the oxidation status of the wine spirit should be taken into account together with the effects of other factors such as the kind of wood and the toasting level. Given the scarce knowledge on the oxidation reactions occurring in the wine spirit’s ageing process, the OXYREBRAND intends to give answers to those effects and to provide a more comprehensive view of the novel technology.