Study of varietal wines from the qualified origin denomination Rioja (Spain): analysis of wine colour, polysaccharides, polyphenols and biogenic amines and amino acides 

The present paper reports the development of an optimized method for simultaneous analysis of
8 biogenic amines (Histamine, Methylamine, Ethylamine, Tyramine, Putrescine, Cadaverine, Phenethylamine, and Isoamylamine). It is based on a method developed by Gomez-Alonso et al. in 2007.

White wines are commonly stabilised by removing the heat unstable proteins through adsorption by bentonite, an effective but inefficient wine processing step. Alternative absorbents are thus sought and zirconium dioxide (zirconia) is recognised as a promising candidate.

‘Cabernet sauvignon’ and ‘Merlot’ are among the most recognized red wine grape cultivars. This work is aimed at investigating the proanthocyanidin composition of skins and seeds to determine the grape variety and the vintage effects on the phenolic composition of Bordeaux grapes.

Recent EU regulations allow the use of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as a stabilization agent in wine. We tested CMC in bases for sparkling wines, which must be stabilized before the second fermentation that raises alcohol concentration by 1,5%.

Results indicated that cross-flow microfiltration removed similarly to fining treatments the most astringent tannins, but cross-flow microfiltration also removed up to 14 % more colour. RP-HPLC and spectrophotometric results showed that egg albumin is a softer fining treatment compared to gelatine and cross-flow microfiltration.