Environmental Impact of Wine Aging Process in Oak Barrels in Wineries of La Rioja (Spain)
- Francisco Javier Flor Montalvo 1
- Francisco Javier Leiva Lázaro 1
- Jorge Luis García Alcaraz 2
- Eduardo Martínez 1
- Emilio Jiménez 2
- Julio Blanco Fernández 1
- 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of La Rioja
- 2 Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez
ISSN: 0002-9254
Year of publication: 2018
Volume: 69
Issue: 3
Pages: 302-306
Type: Article
More publications in: American Journal of Enology and Viticulture
Sustainable development goals
Abstract
The primary objective of winemaking companies is to produce quality wines, with aging playing a fundamental role in the vinification process. This paper presents a gate-to-gate life cycle analysis of the productive processes involved in aging one liter of wine in Quercus alba and Quercus petraea oak barrels for six months. The research was undertaken using 225 L, 300 L, and 500 L barrels. In the Global Warming-GWP100 category of impact, aging in 225-L barrels has an environmental impact of 3.27 kg CO2 eq./L of wine for every liter aged for six months in Q. alba and 3.18 E-02 kg CO2 eq./L of wine for Q. petraea. The same aging in 300-L and 500-L barrels has environmental impacts of 2.21 kg CO2 eq./L of wine and 1.58E-02 kg CO2 eq./L of wine, respectively, for Q. alba. These last values are reduced to 2.18 E-02 kg CO2 eq./L of wine and 1.53 E-02 kg CO2 eq./L of wine for Q. petraea species.