Physicochemical quality of tequila during barrel maturation. A preliminary study

Silver Tequila 100% agave was aged in new oak barrels from four French regions. The evolution of physicochemical parameters regulated by Official Mexican Standard, as well as color, turbidity, total acidity and pH were assayed during 34 weeks of maturation. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences between barrel origin on furan-2-carboxaldehyde, dry extract, color and turbidity; and throughout maturation time on all evaluated parameters, except for total acidity, ethanol, and butan-2-ol. The principal component analysis (PCA) made it possible to separate three different groups corresponding to Silver (S), Aged (A), and tequilas during ripening transition (G), as well as to describe an evolution in two steps. Finally, general discriminant analysis (GDA) made it possible to classify correctly 69% of the samples according to barrel origin and 100% of the samples as G and A tequilas