Grape skins are the part of the fruit with the highest amount of volatile and polyphenolic compounds. Volatile compounds give the fruit and other grape derivatives their flavour. Polyphenolic compounds are responsible for the colour of the fruit, juice and wine, and also act as very important natural antioxidant compounds. Dehydration is a method used to prevent the damage of these compounds over time. Nevertheless, in the case of volatile compounds, removing water can cause compound degradation or the evaporation of such compounds. This work studied two drying methods, freeze-drying and oven-drying, at 60 degrees C, as skin preservation methods. The skins from two grape varieties, Carménère and Cabernet Sauvignon, were dried. Many volatile compounds, which are of interest in the aroma profile, were identified in both varieties as terpenes (linalool, etc.), sesquiterpenes (farnesol), norisoprenoids (vitispirane, etc.), C(6) alcohols (1-hexanol, etc.), etc., and their amount decreased significantly with the oven-drying method, in contrast to the freeze-drying method. Both phenolic compounds, anthocyanins and flavonols, were identified in fresh and dehydrated samples, thus resulting in the freeze-drying method being less aggressive than oven-drying methods.
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