Changes in polyphenol profiles and color composition of freshly fermented model wine due to pulsed electric field, enzymes and thermovinification pretreatments

Abstract

This work compares the effects of three pretreatments techniques: pulsed electric fields (PEFs), enzymes treatment (ET) and thermovinification (TV) on the improving of extraction of main phenolic compounds, color characteristics (L∗a∗b∗), and composition (copigmentation, non-discolored pigments) of freshly fermented model wine from Cabernet Sauvignon variety. The pretreatments produced differences in the wines, with the color of the freshly fermented model wine obtained from PEF and TV pretreated musts being the most different with an increase of 56% and 62%, respectively, compared to the control, while the color only increased by 22% for ET. At the end of the alcoholic fermentation, the contents of anthocyanins for all the pretreatments were not statistically different. However, for the content of total phenolics and total flavonols, PEF and TV were statistically different, but ET was not statistically different. The contents of flavonols in musts pretreated by PEF and TV were significantly higher comparing to the control. An increase of 48% and 97% was noted respectively, and only 4% for ET. A similar result was observed for the total phenolics with an increase by 18% and 32% respectively for PEF and TV, and only 3% for ET comparing to the control. The results suggest that the higher intensity and the difference of color composition between the control and pretreated freshly fermented model wines were not related only to a higher content of residual native polyphenols in these freshly fermented model wines. Other phenomena such as copigmentation and formation of derived pigments may be favored by these pretreatments.