Influence of variety and commercial yeast preparation on red wine made from autochthonous Hungarian and Canadian grapes. Part I: phenolic composition

Eight wines were made from two Canadian hybrid grape varieties (Maréchal Foch, Baco Noir) and two Hungarian Vitis vinifera varieties (Kadarka, Lemberger). One half was kept untreated; the other half received a commercial yeast preparation (OptiRed^®) before fermentation. Significant differences were found between varieties for basic measures of wine quality, including pH, titratable acidity, ethanol, colour density, hue and total phenolics. Quercetin was identified only in Maréchal Foch and Baco Noir wines, and quercetin-glucoside only in Baco Noir. Varietal differences were also found in the concentrations of the 11 other colourless phenolic monomers measured, especially gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, tyrosol, caftaric acid, catechin, caffeic acid, GRP, epicatechin, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and trans-resveratrol. The Canadian wines had higher concentrations of the four anthocyanins measured (malvidin, delphinidin, petunidin and peonidin), higher anti-oxidative capacity, and were characterised by lower ratios of monomeric/polymeric phenolics. Addition of OptiRed^® had little impact on the basic measures of wine quality. Concentrations of gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, caftaric acid and catechin were, on average, 6% higher in wines made from OptiRed^®-treated musts. A trend was observed for all varieties in OptiRed^®-treated wines of a greater proportion of the procyanidins being presented as polymeric rather than monomeric phenolics.