Cultivar-specific Patterns of Polyphenolic Constituents in Wines from the Finger Lakes Region of New York State

To test the hypothesis that cultivar-specific patterns of wine polyphenols can be identified in commercial wines, the concentrations of 18 polyphenolic constituents were measured in 97 monovarietal wines from the 1995 vintage in the Finger Lakes viticultural region of New York State. Wines from Pinot Noir were significantly higher in ( + )-catechin, ( - )-epicatechin, syringic acid, vanillic acid and trans and cis- resveratrol, and lower in myricetin and quercetin than all of the other red wines in this survey. The lowest concentrations of syringic acid , cis- polydatin and cis- resveratrol were found in wines from Cabernet Franc. Wines from Cabernet Sauvignon contained the highest concentrations of p- coumaric acid and those from Merlot were highest in quercetin. Among white wines, those from Gewürztraminer were highest in most polyphenols, notably both catechins, p- coumaric acid, ferulic acid and gentisic acid. Riesling wines were lower in ( - )-epicatechin and gallic acid than the other white wines combined. These observations largely confirm previous results in wines from other regions and lend credibility to the notion that, although climate, sunlight and other environmental and oenological factors modulate the polyphenol content of wines, the latter is mainly determined by the genetic characteristics of the predominant cultivar.