Effect of Pre-Fermentative Strategieson the Composition of Prieto Picudo (Vitis vinífera) Red Wines

The actual wine global market presents the risk of standardization of the wines and the losses of wine grape peculiarities. To combat this fact, autochthonous wine grapes are extremely interesting to use for winemaking. The use of the pre-fermentative maceration technique in autochthonous grape varieties could be an alternative of increasing their complexity. The aim of the present work was to compare the effect of five different pre-fermentative maceration treatments on the colour, phenolic and volatile composition of Prieto Picudo (PP) autochthonous red wines. The evolution during 12 months of the different wines was also studied for one vintage. Enzymatic, refrigerate and cryo-maceration treatments were applied to PP autochthonous grape varieties. The study was carried out during two consecutive vintages. Results showed that enzymatic maceration was the most effective treatment to improve levels of phenols, colour intensity and volatile compounds. Cold maceration showed also good effects. However, it was not able to improve the extractive effects of enzymatic macerations. Generally, wines obtained with pre-fermentative maceration techniques showed better colour and volatile stability than control wines.