Co-Pigmentation of Caffeic Acid and Catechin on Wine Color and the Effect of Ultrasound in Model Wine Solutions

Abstract

Objective: Wine color is considered an important indicator in judging red wine quality and is also employed to evaluate wine aging. However, wine color can be influenced by many factors.

Method: In this paper, it was investigated that the effects of caffeic acid and catechin on wine color and related mechanisms by HPLC and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy for the wine model solutions containing malvidin-3-O-glucoside. The spectrum changes of the model wine solutions (Mv-glc, Mv-glc + caffeic acid, and Mv-glc + catechin) during 120 days storage were monitored to analyze the influence of co-pigmentation on red wine color.

Results: The results indicate that the color properties of red wine could be affected by caffeic acid and catechin to a certain extent. Moreover, caffeic acid had a stronger auxiliary color effect on the malvidin-3-O-glucoside than that of the catechin in the model wine solutions, and the former effect continued to increase with prolongation of storage time. The latter effect (catechin) only had a temporary auxiliary color effect in the beginning, and weakened from red to orange yellow with increased storage time. Furthermore, ultrasound irradiation improved co-pigmentation, resulting in the modification of wine color.

Conclusions: All results indicate that the co-pigmentation reaction of wine color could be modified by the addition of caffeic acid and ultrasonic treatment to improve the quality of red wine.