RESUMO
This is the first study to be carried out on the incidence of halophenols and haloanisoles, including trichloroanisole, in aged red wines. A total of 966 red wines, aged for 6, 12 and 24 months in oak barrels and from different Spanish production areas, were analysed by stir bar sorptive extraction followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). From the wines sampled, 155 (16.1%) were contaminated with one or several compounds, with 7.6, 6.9 and 1.5% corresponding to the 12- (aged-12), 6- (aged-6) and 24-month-aged (aged-24) wines, respectively. The most abundant compounds causing taint were 2,3,4,6-tetrachloroanisole and 2,4,6-trichloroanisol (6.8 and 5.3%, respectively). No 2,4,6-tribromophenol was found in any of the samples. Contamination with halo compounds was highest in samples from South-West Spain, followed by those from Northern Spain. The mean concentration for all compounds were always higher than their respective olfactory threshold, but none of these halo compounds represent a health hazard to humans through the consumption of commercial red aged wines.
