VOLATILE, PHENOLIC AND COLORIMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF THREE DIFFERENT LAMBRUSCO APPELLATIONS

Abstract

Lambrusco is a commercially successful sparkling red and rosé wine. With 13.06 million litres sold in 2021 was the second best-selling Italian wine after Chianti. According to National Catalogue of Vine Varieties there are thirteen Lambrusco Varieties with which to date are produced seven PDO wines. Among these, “Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce”, “Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro” and “Lambrusco di Sorbara” are the only ones that can be considered mono-varietal appellations, all located in Modena area. The PDOs contemplate the possibility of producing wines by secondary fermentation either in tank (Charmat method), or in bottle (Classico method). Sur lie is a third method commonly employed for Lambrusco, similar to the Classico method, from which differs for the absence of disgorgement.

The present study has two aims: we intended to provide for the first time a detailed characterization of the volatile chemical and phenolic composition and the colorimetric parameters of the three mono-varietal Lambrusco PDOs “Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce”, “Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro” and “Lambrusco di Sorbara” and we wanted to investigate the influence of the three production methods considered, Charmat, Classico and Sur lie on relevant aroma compounds.

Volatile composition was investigated thanks to GC-MS coupled with different extraction techniques (SPE and SPME). Total polyphenols and anthocyanins were evaluated with specific enzymatic assays, tannins with methyl cellulose precipitable assay. CIElab parameters were studied with a reflectance colorimeter.

We found that the three types wine were differentiated by many volatile compounds. Lambrusco Grasparossa showed higher content of cyclic terpenes and sulphur compounds, Salamino higher content of linalool and 1,4-cineole, while Sorbara showed quite high levels of β-myrcene, 1,8-cineole, TDN, vitispirane and cis-3-hexenol. Fermentation-derived compounds showed a wide intra-varietal variability.

The type of secondary fermentation method (Charmat, Classico or Sur lie) can impact significantly Lambrusco volatile composition, highlighting the importance of various complex phenomena including aging period, adsorption of volatile compounds on yeast lees as well as formation of volatile compounds from amino acids.

With regard to the content of total polyphenols, tannins and anthocyanins, Lambrusco di Sorbara was characterised by a lower content than Grasparossa and Salamino, which was also reflected in the colorimetric parameters.