Polyphenolic characterisation of red italian wines

The aim of the present study was to characterize the polyphenolic compounds of ’Aglianico’, ’Primitivo’ and ’Nero di Troia’ wines produced in Apulia region, Southern Italy. Grapes belonging to the three varieties are produced in three different areas, Aglianico’ from Genzano di Lucania (Basilicata), ’Primitivo’ was from Gioia del Colle (Apulia) and ’Nero di Troia’ was from Corato (Apulia). All grapes were picked at the so-called “technological maturity” and processed according to traditional red winemaking process at Pietraventosa winery located in Gioia del Colle (Bari, Italy). The anthocyanin and flavonoid, contents of wines were determined according to the method of Di Stefano and Cravero (1989) using an UV-visible spectrophotometer (Beckman Coulter DU 800, USA). Antioxidant activity was assessed by ABTS [2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] assay, which is based on free-radical-scavenging activity. Analysis of anthocyanin compounds was performed by HPLC using a Waters 600 E apparatus (Waters, PA, USA) that included a quaternary pump, a photodiod earray detector (DAD) and an injection valve with a 20-lL loop. Assays were analysed by the One-way ANOVA which performed by means of SPSS software v. 19 (IBM Corporation, NY, USA). The three examined wines showed a different polyphenolic content. ’Nero di Troia’ showed the highest content in polyphenols and flavonoids. ’Aglianico’ showed the highest content in anthocyanin and antioxidant activity. Malvidin 3-O-glucoside was the most concentrated anthocyanin, being the three varietiesVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŽemės ūkio akademij