Chemical and sensory profile of Brazilian red wines upon the cultivar and geographic origin of vineyards

Many vineyards implanted in Brazil in the last 20 years are placed under very different natural conditions if compared to Serra Gaúcha, the oldest and more traditional viticultural region in the country. With the aim of measure the enological potential of wines from every region, a study named “network of news viticultural regions” was started in 2007 concerning representative vineyards of six different regions: Planalto Catarinense and Planalto de Palmas (placed on Santa Catarina State), Campos de Cima da Serra, Serra Gaúcha, Serra do Sudeste and Campanha Meridional (placed on Rio Grande do Sul State). For every cultivar, 50Kg of grapes are harvested from 20 plants marked earlier, representing the whole vineyard. The grapes harvested are processed under classical red winemaking method. The analyses of wines were done along the time with the aim to obtain the chemical and sensorial profile of them. The chemical variables analyzed were: mineral compounds, organic acids, alcohol, dry extract, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, stilbenes, quercetin and antioxidant potential. The sensorial variables analyzed were: color intensity and hue, aromatic intensity and quality, acidity, structure, alcoholic perception, viscosity, tannin quality, olfactory and taste persistence, general harmony and quality. The whole results makes possible discriminate one wine relatively to geographic origin and also different wines into a particular region. The most significant differences concerning chemical profiles of studied wines were: organic acids, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, trans-resveratrol, trans-piceíde, quercetin and antioxidant potential. Concerning sensorial analyses, the most significant differences were observed for color intensity, acidity, olfactory and taste persistence and general quality.