Study of the effect of vintage, maturity degree, and irrigation on the amino acid and biogenic amine content of a white wine from the Verdejo variety

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture Vol. 94; no. 10; pp. 2073 - 2082
• Main Authors: Ortega‐Heras, Miriam, Pérez‐Magariño, Silvia, Del‐Villar‐Garrachón, Vanesa, González‐Huerta, Carlos, Moro Gonzalez, Luis Carlos, Guadarrama Rodríguez, Alberto, Villanueva Sanchez, Sonia, Gallo González, Rubén, Martín de la Helguera, Sara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.08.2014; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: Agricultural Irrigation; alcoholic fermentation; Amines; amino acid composition; Amino acids; Amino Acids - metabolism; Berries; biogenic amines; Biogenic Amines - analysis; Climate; climatic factors; Evolution; Fermentation; Food science; Foods; Fruit - metabolism; Grapes; Humans; Irrigation; maturity; Nitrogen - metabolism; Species Specificity; Verdejo; Vintage; Vitaceae; Vitis - classification; Vitis - metabolism; Weather conditions; weathering; white wines; Wine - analysis; winemaking; Wines; biogenic amines; irrigation; maturity; amino acids; Verdejo
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.6526

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of three factors directly related to the amino acid content of grapes and their interaction. These three factors were vintage, maturity degree and irrigation. The evolution of amino acid was also assessed during the winemaking along with the effect of maturity and irrigation on the biogenic amine formation. The grapes used for this study were of the Verdejo variety. RESULTS: The results indicated that there was a strong vintage effect on amino acid content in grapes, which seemed to be clearly related to climatic conditions. The effect of maturity on amino acid content depended on vintage, irrigation and the amino acid itself although it was observed that irrigation caused the increase of most amino acids present in the berry. Irrigation did not affect the evolution of nitrogen compounds during the alcoholic fermentation process but the maturity degree in some of the amino acids tested did so. No direct relationship could be established between irrigation or maturity degree and biogenic amines. However, it should be noted that the biogenic amine content was very low. CONCLUSIONS: Vintage has a strong effect on the amino acid content in grapes which appears to be related to weather conditions. No direct relationship has been found between irrigation or maturity degree and biogenic amines content. Furthermore, it is noted that biogenic amine content found in final wines was very low. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry