Pre-drying and submerged cap winemaking: Effects on polyphenolic compounds and sensory descriptors. Part I: BRS Rúbea and BRS Cora

- We analyzed the phenolic and sensory profiles of Rúbea and Cora red wines.
- Three winemaking techniques were analyzed: traditional, pre-drying and submerged cap.
- Pre-dried wines were bitter and full-bodied due to their flavan-3-ols content.
- Submerged cap wines showed an intense violet hue due to their high anthocyanin content.
- Antioxidant capacity showed a correlation with the % of the galloylated flavan-3-ols.

In contrast to the most worldwide used grape varieties, wine production in Brazil is mainly devoted to the elaboration of table wines from American grapes and hybrids. These grapes show initial disadvantages such as low soluble solids content in their optimal stage of ripening and poor color quality. Based on this, the Brazilian Agency EMBRAPA Grape and Wine has developed BRS type cultivars in order to enhance the quality of the table wines. This study analyzed the phenolic composition and sensory profile of BRS Rúbea and BRS Cora red wines elaborated by traditional and two alternative winemaking technologies: grape pre-drying and submerged cap of chaptalized musts. Pre-dried wines presented low concentrations of anthocyanins/pyranoanthocyanins and flavonols, suggesting that they were partially degraded by the thermal treatment (60 °C). These wines were described as bitter and full-bodied because of their higher flavan-3-ols content, suggesting that these compounds were not greatly influenced by thermal degradation. Submerged cap was described as persistent to the palate and with an intense violet hue due to its high anthocyanin and flavonol concentrations. The antioxidant capacity presented a weak relationship with the anthocyanins and stilbenes, but was intensely related to the % of galloylated flavan-3-ols.