The effect of prefermentative addition of gallic acid and ellagic acid on the red wine color, copigmentation and phenolic profiles during wine aging

Though non-anthocyanin phenolics normally do not have red color, they affect the red color expression in the copigmentation of red wines. In this study, the influence of prefermentative addition of 300 mg/L gallic acid and ellagic acid, as cofactors, on aging dry red wines had been systematically evaluated at the industrial scales from the perspectives of color, phenolic profiles and copigmentation effects of anthocyanins. Red wines made with these two compounds exhibited better color properties than the control, having better CIELAB chromatic parameters. Additionally, significantly higher levels of detectable anthocyanins and copigmented anthocyanin ratio had been observed. Wines with ellagic acid showed better chromatic properties and phenolic profiles than wines with gallic acid, as shown in previous theoretical results. Anti-copigmentation phenomenon was noticed and elucidated. These practical results confirmed that ellagic acid was the better cofactor, and would give more additional guidance for the production of high quality wine. Chemical compounds: Malvidin-3-O-glucoside (PubChem CID: 443,652); Petunidin-3-O-glucoside (PubChem CID: 443,651); Delphinidin-3-O-glucoside (PubChem CID: 443,650); Peonidin-3-O-glucoside (PubChem CID: 443,654); Ellagic acid (PubChem CID: 5,281,855); Gallic acid (PubChem CID: 370); Quercetin (PubChem CID: 443,654); Caffeic acid (PubChem CID: 689,043); (+)-catechin (PubChem CID: 9064); Vanillic acid (PubChem CID: 8468).