The use of new oak barrels, and the demand for oak wood in oenology is increasing. Thus, it is necessary to search new wood sources to supply the current demand in cooperage. The aim of this work was to study the composition of ellagitannins and low molecular weight polyphenols (LMWP) by HPLC-DAD of green woods of Quercus humboldtii (Colombian), compared with typically species used in cooperage Quercus sessilis (French and Romanian) and Quercus alba (USA). In Colombia oak wood, the same LMWP and ellagitannins than in the traditional species were identified. The most abundant LMWP was ellagic acid, and its concentration was lower in Q. humboldtii and Q. alba than in Q. sessilis, so these two woods presented lower content of phenolic acids. Regarding phenolic aldehydes, Colombian oak wood only showed significant differences in the content of coniferyl and sinapic aldehydes in relation to French oak. Finally, total ellagitannins content of Q. humboldtii was lower than European oaks and similar to American oak (Q. alba). None of the ellagitannins studied presented significant differences compared to Q. alba. Thereby, Q. humboldtii wood was more similar in terms of phenolic composition to Q. alba than to Q. sessilis.
