Aging of wines and spirits in wooden barrels is an industrial process used to stabilize the color, to improve the limpidity and to enrich the sensorial characteristics of the products. In red wines, the oxygen that permeates through the wood staves promotes the oxidization of polyphenols and the formation of new pigments with consequent stabilization of the wine color. Barrel aging of spirits, such as brandy, whisky, rum, and grappa is finalized to enrich their aroma and improve their sensorial characteristics by the contribute of the compounds released by the wood. Oak is the wood type mostly used in making barrels; however, an increasing interest in the use of chestnut, cherry, acacia, and in less extent, ash and mulberry, has been observed in the recent years. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry are the main techniques used to characterize respectively the volatile and polar metabolites released by the wood barrels in the products. In this article are reported the recent advancements in this field.

中文翻译：

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质谱法研究桶装葡萄酒和烈酒中释放的木质化合物

葡萄酒和烈酒在木桶中的陈酿是一种用于稳定颜色、提高清澈度和丰富产品感官特性的工业过程。在红葡萄酒中，透过木板的氧气会促进多酚的氧化和新色素的形成，从而使葡萄酒颜色稳定。白兰地、威士忌、朗姆酒和格拉巴酒等烈酒的木桶陈酿最终会通过木材释放的化合物来丰富它们的香气并改善它们的感官特性。橡木是最常用于制作橡木桶的木材类型。然而，近年来人们对栗子、樱桃、金合欢的使用越来越感兴趣，并且在较小程度上使用了水曲柳和桑树。气相色谱-质谱联用和液相色谱-质谱联用是分别表征产品中木桶释放的挥发性和极性代谢物的主要技术。本文报道了该领域的最新进展。