Defining the mechanisms and impact of winemaking treatments on tannin and polysaccharides in red wine: recent progress in creating diverse styles

Grape anthocyanin content and composition could affect the quality and the production strategies of red wines. Differences in the pigment composition modify the color properties in terms of hue, extractability and stability. Thus, for the production of a highly qualitative wine such as “Amarone”, variations in the pigment composition are not negligible. The aim of this work was the investigation of the anthocyanin profile changes during ripening in Corvina grapes, the main cultivar for the “Amarone” production. The experiment took place in 2015, in two vineyards located in Valpollicella (Italy).

Light-struck taste is a defect prevalent in white wines bottled in clear glass light-exposed for a considerable amount of time leading to a loss of color and appearance of sulfur-like odors. The reaction involves riboflavin (RF), a highly photosensitive compound that undergoes to intermolecular photoreduction by the uptake of two electron equivalents from an external donor, the methionine. The reaction includes different steps forming methional which is extremely unstable and decomposes to methane thiol and acrolein. The reaction of two molecules of methane thiol yields dimethyl disulfide. Methane thiol is highly volatile, has a low perception threshold (2 to 10 µg/L in wine) and confers aroma-like rotten eggs or cabbage.

An alternative to improve grape quality is the application to the vineyard of elicitors. Although these compounds were first used to increase resistance of plants against pathogens, it has been found that they are also able to induce mechanisms involved in the synthesis of phenolic compounds and some amino acids. However, researches about the influence of elicitors on grape volatile composition are scarcely. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the influence of methyl jasmonate (MeJ) foliar application on grape aroma composition over three consecutive vintages. MeJ was applied to Tempranillo grapevines at a concentration of 10 mM in 2013, 2014, and 2015 years. Control plants were sprayed with water.

Anthocyanin accumulation and extractability were studied in Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes produced in the south of Uruguay in two consecutive seasons. Typical cultivation situations employed in the region for each variety were considered. A follow-up was carried out, considering 60 plants per vineyard, and the harvest was determined according to the technological indices of maturity. Samples of grapes were taken in duplicate in each vineyard periodically along grape maturation. The basic composition, polyphenolic potential and anthocyanin extractability were determined. Also, half of grapes were frozen and later peeled; skin extractions over 24 hs with a solution of 12% ethanol and pH 3.2 were carried out. The anthocyanin contents of the extracts obtained were determined by HPLC-DAD. The levels of anthocyanins reached the highest values before technological maturity. Anthocyanin extractability had a decrease during grape maturation.

The color of a red wine is one of the most important parameters of its quality, giving much information on its status, such as the grape variety used or the winemaking style. As the result of a complex equilibrium between different forms of anthocyanins and polymerization reactions which occur over the course of time, color can also serve as an indication of a wines’ age. For this purpose the “chemical age” i and ii indexes have been introduced by Somers in 1977. The chemical age index i measures the color absorbance after the addition of acetaldehyde while chemical index ii provides an indication of how much of the total red pigments are resistant to SO2 bleaching.