Polyphenols, anthocyanins, and trans-resveratrol in red wines from the Hungarian Villány region

Epidemiological data indicate that moderate red wine consumption leads to less coronary heart disease and shows anti-carcinogenic effects. Especially, red wine phenolics have been linked to these effects. Sixty-seven red wines from the Hungarian Villány region, of vintages from 1996 to 2003 were analysed for their polyphenolic and anthocyanin composition by means of RP-HPLC/UV–Vis. Varieties with generally high concentrations of polyphenols are Kékfrankos, Merlot and Zweigelt, while anthocyanin content was highest in Shiraz, Oportó, Kékfrankos and Zweigelt. In agreement with other authors, our results show that trans-resveratrol content is mainly dependent on variety and vintage year. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that flavan-3-ols and delphinidin- and petunidin-3-glucosides are mainly responsible for the separation of wines according to polyphenolic composition. We could not discriminate between varieties or wineries based on polyphenol content, but could for vintage years.