Occurrence and Formation Kinetics of Pyranomalvidin-Procyanidin Dimer Pigment in Merlot Red Wine: Impact of Acidity and Oxygen Concentrations

Once released from red grape skins, anthocyanins undergo various chemical reactions leading to the formation of more stable pigments such as pyranoanthocyanin, as well as other derivatives. Among these pigments, pyranoanthocyanins linked directly to flavanol dimers have been detected and identified in aged Port wine but not in dry red wine. These pigments are very important with regard to the wine color evolution since they are involved in wine color evolution and stabilization. During this investigation, the occurrence in dry red wine of two pyranomalvidin-procyanidin dimer has been established by low and high resolution HPLC-UV-MS analysis. Moreover, the impact of acidity and oxygen levels on their formation in red wine has been estimated. After four months of evolution, the results showed that, for the same pH, the quantity of this pigment was correlated with oxygen concentrations. Moreover, for the same quantity of oxygen, the concentration of this pigment was related to the acidity level.