Influence of terroir (temperature, elevation and exposure) in anthocyanins of Mencía grape cultivar in D.O. Ribeira Sacra (north-west Spain)

Abstract

Ribeira Sacra AOC (NW Spain) is characterized by high slopes and the vine growing in terraces. Along this AOC it  exist  different  areas  with  different  elevation,  exposure  and  temperature  conditions  (Amandi,  Chantada, Quiroga-Bibei, Ribeiras do Sil and Ribeiras do Miño). Mencía (Vitis vinifera L.) is the most important red grape cultivar in this geographic area. Anthocyanins are a class of pigmented phenolic compounds responsible for the red color of grapes and wine and it can be influenced by environmental factors. The aim of this work was known the anthocyanin profile of Mencía red grape cultivar and the effect of terroir on this profile during four vintages (2009-2012). In this sense, grapes of cv. Mencía cultivated in the five geographic areas of Ribeira Sacra were extracted and analyzed by HPLC-DAD. A total of nineteen anthocyanins compounds were identified. From the results obtained, it may be observed that the major concentration of this compounds are obtained in areas with temperature between 17,5 and 19,5 ºC, elevation about 400 meters and exposition S, SE and NE. ANOVA results showed significant differences among areas and vintages in a 78,95% of all studied compounds and the exposition, elevation and temperature for a 52,63, 47,37 and 36,85 %, respectively. These data argue that exposition, elevation and temperature affect anthocyanin composition of this cultivar.