Influence of selective removal of grapevine leaves on quality of red wine

Abstract

The selective removal (defoliation) of grapevine leaves around berry clusters can improve the quality of ripening grape by influencing the phenolic content at harvest. In this work we investigated the influence of partial defoliation on the phenolic composition and antioxidant activity of Vitis vinifera L. Cabernet Sauvignon grape, grown in Serbia and its wine. The results show significant difference between treated (early and late defoliation) grape samples and untreated control samples. The skin extracts of Cabernet Sauvignon grape obtained from the early defoliation plants showed to 88.75 % increase of total phenol content and to 12.70 % increase of antioxidant activity in 2012 grown season, as compared to the extracts from the control grape samples. This is reflected in the values of total phenols and the antioxidant capacity of appropriate wine samples. Partial early defoliation may be an excellent tool for yield control and quality grape and be employed as a management practice as parameter for quality of red wine.

Keywords

• vitis vinifera l. grape
• defoliation
• phenolic composition
• antioxidant activity
• quality red wine