Influence of wine region provenance on phenolic composition, antioxidant capacity and radical scavenger activity of traditional Portuguese red grape varieties

• Published in: European food research & technology Vol. 241; no. 1; pp. 61 - 73
• Main Authors: Costa, Elisa, Cosme, Fernanda, Rivero-Pérez, Maria D., Jordão, António M., González-SanJosé, Maria L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; German
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acids; Agriculture; Analysis; Analytical Chemistry; Antioxidants; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chromatography; Cocoa; Food; Food Science; Forestry; Fruits; Original Paper; Phenols; Studies; Vitaceae; Wineries & vineyards; Wines; Antioxidant capacity; Anthocyanins; Radical scavenger activity; Phenolic compounds; Portuguese red grapes
• ISSN: 1438-2377; 1438-2385
• DOI: 10.1007/s00217-015-2434-x

The introduction and spread of world-renowned varieties has caused a massive loss of indigenous grapevine varieties traditionally grown in various wine countries. In this point of view, Portugal is no exception to this situation. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze seven traditional Portuguese red grape varieties cultivated at the same time in two wine regions of Portugal in order to determine the potential influence of these two provenances on several phenolic and antioxidant capacity parameters. Taking into account the general phenolic parameters, the highest values were found for the grape varieties cultivated in ‘Dão’ region (a global average value of 0.640 and 0.526 mg/g berry for total phenolic compounds and total anthocyanins, respectively). Regarding the values of total antioxidant capacity and superoxide radical scavenger activity (using SRSA method), a similar trend was observed (a global average value of 6.57 and 5.92 µmol trolox/g berry for antioxidant capacity, using ABTS and DPPH methods, respectively). However, for non-flavonoid phenols, the highest values were quantified in the samples harvested from ‘Douro’ region (a global average value of 0.047 mg/g berry). With this work, it was clear that the variability of the results obtained were determined by the genetic and also by environmental factors.