Relations Between the Phenolic Composition and Free Radical Scavenging, and Antibacterial Activities of Red Wines from Different Cultivars of Vitis vinifera L.

Abstract

Polyphenols are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, including the grape (Vitis vinifera L.), and are extracted during winemaking. Because of their potential beneficial health, free radical scavenging and antibacterial activities of some red wines from the Zupa viticulture and winemaking region in Serbia are produced from old autochthonous grape cultivars: Vranac, Kratosija, and Prokupac, and from Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Gamay cultivars originated from France. The results showed that the antioxidant activity was highly correlated with the content of total phenolics (r² = 0.9737), tartaric esters (r² = 0.9980), flavonols (r² = 0.8938), and monomeric anthocyanins (r² = 0.9239) in selected wines. The antibacterial activity of investigated wines against the pathogenic strain of Staphylococcus aureus significantly correlated with their phenolic constituents.

Keywords:

• Red wines
• Phenolics
• Tartaric esters
• Flavonols
• Anthocyanins
• Free radical scavenging activity
• Antibacterial activity

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The research was supported by the Europen Union, FP7–REGPOT–2007-3-01, KBBE: Food, Agriculture, and Biotechnology, Project “Chromlab-Antioxidant,” No. 204756.