Concentration of Biogenic Amines in ‘Pinot Noir’ Wines Produced in Croatia

The origins of biogenic amines are sound grapes, alcoholic fermentations, malolactic fermentation and microbial activities during wine storage. These biologically produced amines are essential at low concentrations for optimal metabolic and physiological functions in animals, plants and micro-organisms. During alcoholic fermentation the degree of maceration is the first factor that affects the extraction of compounds present in the grape skin, among them aminoacids, precursors of biogenic amines. The aim of the present work was to study the changes of the concentration of biogenic amines in wines made from Vitis vinifera ‘Pinot noir’ from Plešivica (vintage 2009) produced with classical maceration, cold maceration and use of sur lie method. Biogenic amines were quantified using a reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection after pre-column derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA). In ‘Pinot noir’ wines tested, histamine was the most abundant biogenic amine followed by tryptamine and 2-Phenylethylamine. Total amount of biogenic amines ranged from 8.72 mg/L in wines made with classical maceration up to 9.34 mg/L in sur lie wines. In summary, from the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that sur lie technology can influence the formation of biogenic acids since the release of amino acids is probably more pronounced in wines aged with lees and stirred weekly. No significant differences were found in the concentration of biogenic amines in relation to the used maceration process