Use of Enological Tannins and Alternative Macerations in a Tannat Red Winemaking Essay

The prefermentative cold maceration (PCM) and the addition of oenological tannins (TA) to the must are alternatives proposed to enhance the intensity and quality of red wine colour. Additionally, the PCM promotes the increase of anthocyanin/tannin quotient, which is important for colour stability. To evaluate the performance of these oenological-alternatives in the winemaking of Tannat red wines, an experiment was performed on a small scale (70 kg per treatment). The control treatment was elaborated with a traditional maceration carried out through eight days simultaneously with fermentation. The PCM was macerated five days at temperatures lower than 15º C prior fermentation, followed by eight days of traditional maceration. In TA 100 mg/L of seed tannins were added at the beginning of eight days maceration. Daily measurements of colour intensity, anthocyanins and total poliphenols were taken during macerations. At devatting, general composition, colour and polyphenols in wines were measured. The slowest anthocyanin and total phenolic extraction was registered in PCM musts, and resulted in wines with the lowest content of anthocyanin, intensity and quality of the colour, although they had the highest contents of catechins and proanthocianidins. The TA gave wines with more catechins and proanthocyanidins than traditional maceration Agrociencia Uruguay - Volumen 17 1:65-73 - enero/junio 2013 66 Favre G, Charamelo D, González-Neves G Agrociencia Uruguay (MT) but did not increase colour intensity. The wines with the highest content of anthocyanins and better colour where those elaborated with MT, which was carried on according to the characteristics of the cultivar and grape composition used in the trial.