Adaptability of some French red grape varieties cultivated at two different Portuguese terroirs: Comparative analysis with two Portuguese red grape varieties using physicochemical and phenolic parameters

Abstract

In the last year's, several French grape varieties have been introduced in different world wine regions, increasing their representation in the world. Consequently, it is important to analyze the adaptability of several red grape varieties from French origin to the other specific ‘terroirs’ and compare their characteristics with native grape varieties. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical and phenolic composition of five French red grape varieties and two Portuguese red grape varieties grown at two different Portuguese wine regions. In general, French (except ‘Alicante Bouschet’ grape variety) and Portuguese red grape varieties collected in the vineyard located in ‘Dão’ wine region had higher positive physicochemical characteristics, especially for estimated alcohol degree and titratable acidity. Regarding the phenolic composition, French grape varieties showed significantly higher values of total phenols and flavonoid compounds, especially for the grape samples collected in the vineyard located in ‘Dão’ region. Thus, for example ‘Alicante Bouschet’ grape variety showed the highest values for total phenolic (global average value from 0.636 to 0.894mgg−1 of berry) and flavonoid compounds (global average value from 0.584 to 0.834mgg−1 of berry). However, for total anthocyanins it was clear that the two Portuguese grape varieties studied (‘Touriga Nacional’ and ‘Tinta Roriz’) showed significantly highest values independently of the wine region considered (global average value ranged from 0.603 to 0.785mgg−1 of berry). Similar tendency was also confirmed by significantly highest global average values for the sum of the glycosylated derivatives, where the values ranged from 0.389 to 0.539mgg−1 of berry, for the two Portuguese grape varieties considered.