Chemical composition of wood casks for wine ageing as determined by pyrolysis/gc/ms

Oak and chestnut cask staves were planed to a depth of one centimeter, collecting a sample every millimeter. The samples were ground and subjected to pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in order to determine their composition. Thirty‐six compounds were identified, including a series of typical lignin phenolics commonly considered responsible for wine taste. All ions found in a previous pyrolysis/mass spectrometry study of oak wood and related to good quality whisky were confirmed in the mass spectra of the pyrolysis fragments specific for polysaccharides and lignin recorded in the present work. Compared to chestnut wood, oak wood showed significantly higher lignin and syringyl unit content and less variability as to lignin composition with depth.