Evolution Of Malvidin-3-Glucoside And Color Charateristics Of Red Wines During Forced Aging Processes: Effect Of (+)-Catechin And (-)-Epicatechin Addition

The interaction between malvidin-3-glucoside and flavan-3-ols are responsible for most of organoleptic properties (color and flavor) of red wine. This study aimed to illustrate the condensation between malvidin-3-glucoside and flavan-3-ols of red wine by adding exogenous (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin at a single dose of 300 mg/L. The addition treatments led to rapid decrease of malvidin-3-glucoside, (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin (precursors of polymeric pigments), but maintained other phenolic compounds and total anthocyanins. The formation of ethyl-linked malvidin-3-glucoside-flavanol pigments was significantly enhanced by the treatments. The calculated yield at the time of maximum formation indicated that the formation of malvidin-3-glucoside-ethyl-(-)-epicatechin was more effective and sensitive to temperature than that of malvidin-3-glucoside-ethyl-(+)-catechin. Besides, the condensation between anthocynins and flavan-3-ols could be regarded as the main process responsible for the color modification of red wine samples, which indicated that the formed pigments contributed yellowness to red wine color.Practical applications The color quality of red wine directly impacts their commercial acceptance. However, in China the red wine suffers great color loss during aging. Our study demonstrated that the increase of (+)-catechin or (-)-epicatechin in red wines would be a promising alternative to modulate the formation of polymeric pigments, thus stabilizing wine color. This could provide cumulative information for the improvement of wine color from the perspective of industrial processing.