Characterization of Anthocyanins and Anthocyanin-Derivatives in Red Wines during Ageing in Custom Oxygenation Oak Wood Barrels.

Samanta Prat-García,Joana Oliveira,Maria Del Alamo-Sanza,Ignacio Nevares,Victor De Freitas,Nuno Mateus

doi:10.3390/molecules26010064

Samanta Prat-García, Joana Oliveira + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26010064

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Abstract

The ageing of wines in oak barrels is a key stage in the production of high-quality red wines, with the type of oak chosen and the amount of oxygen received by the wine being the determining factors of the process. This work analyses the effect of ageing the same red wine in barrels with different oxygenation rates for one year (OTR), specifically the effect on the evolution of anthocyanins, their derivatives and the appearance of new pigments according to the oxygen dosage in barrels. Results show that wines aged in High-Wood-OTR barrels have a large quantity of monomeric anthocyanins and wine aged in Low-Wood-OTR barrels presents a major intensity of colour. Moreover, using LC-MS analysis, it was possible to detect and identify different families of anthocyanin derivatives, including the tentative identification of two new aldehyde-flavanol-methylpyranoanthocyanin pigments.

Highlights

Anthocyanins are a family of water-soluble pigments responsible for the colour of red wines, especially young red wines
The results obtained show a low coefficient of variation for all the parameters analysed, which shows the homogeneity in the barrels of the same batch
As to the browning of the wines, reflected in the absorbance at 420 nm, statistically significant differences were observed between the wines of the three types of barrels (p = 0.0001) and between the wines of the barrels with controlled oxygenation rate (p = 0.0000), with the wines aged in LW-oxygen transmission rate (OTR) barrels being the ones with slightly lower %420. These results suggest that wines aged in LW-OTR barrels are less oxidized than those aged in HW-OTR

Summary

Introduction

Anthocyanins are a family of water-soluble pigments responsible for the colour of red wines, especially young red wines. The concentration of these pigments decreases significantly in a short period of time during red wine maturation, and this is due to the reactivity of anthocyanins with others wine components like tannins, phenolic acids and other small molecules such as pyruvic acid and acetaldehyde [1,2]. Different anthocyanin derivatives are found in red wines during ageing, including flavanol–anthocyanin adducts, flavanol–ethyl–anthocyanin adducts, carboxypyranoanthocyanins (Vitisin A), and 4-hydroxy-, 3,4-dihydroxy- and 3-methoxy4-hydroxy-phenyl-pyranoanthocyanins, as well as polymeric pigments [4,5] that play an important role in sensory, colour and antioxidant properties [6]. It has been reported that red wine ageing in contact with wood increases the content of pyruvic acid derivatives [10] and the fraction of polymeric pigments [4,5]

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