Cell wall compounds of red grapes skins and their grape marcs from three different winemaking techniques

Rafael Apolinar-Valiente, Inmaculada Romero-Cascales, Encarna Gómez-Plaza, José María López-Roca, José María Ros-García

Departamento de Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y Bromatología, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.

Abstract

Different winemaking practices are aimed at increasing cell wall degradation to facilitate extraction of valuables molecules into the wine. However, little attention has been paid to the composition of marcs from different cultivars according to the influence of the winemaking procedures. We provide information on skin cell walls from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Monastrell grapes and examine how different winemaking practices (addition of enzymatic preparation and β-galactosidase separately and dry ice addition) may affect the composition of marc skin cell wall material (CWM). The efficiency of CWM isolation from the grape skin and also its composition is influenced by the cultivar. A similar cultivar influence has been detected on CWM from the marc, being the differences also due to the enological technique. Our results help to increase our knowledge on the degradation of cell walls during vinification, while providing a valuable guideline to upgrade the value of these by-products.

Keywords: Grape cell wall; Grape marcs; Cultivar; Dry ice addition; Pectic enzymes.