Monitoring the content of biogenic amines in red wines subjected to malolactic fermentation

Ionel Popescu-Mitroi, Dana Gina Radu, Claudia Mureşan, Andreea Lupitu, Dana Copolovici and Lucian Copolovici

Abstract: Biogenic amines are produced by yeast and lactic bacteria during alcohol and malolactic fermentation processes by the decarboxylation of amino acids. Wines contain different quantities of biogenic amines, depending on the concentration of free amino acids in the wine, the type of bacteria present, grape variety and vineyard, temperature, pH, and hygiene conditions during the technological process. In this paper, biogenic amines (tyramine, histamine, cadaverine and putrescine) were determined for 5 types of dry red wines from the 2017 Miniș vineyard harvest (Arad County, Romania), 2 of the wines with malolactic fermentation in progress (Merlot, Fetească neagră), and 3 of the wines with finalised malolactic fermentation (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, and Cadarcă). The determination of biogenic amines was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using the orthophthaldialdehyde/2-mercaptoethanol (OPA/MCE) derivatisation method. The results obtained show that the wine samples with non-finalised malolactic fermentation do not contain putrescine and cadaverine, and the contents of tyramine and histamine are low. In contrast, wine samples with finalised malolactic fermentation show much higher concentrations of biogenic amines, the content in tyramine reaching 0.97 ppm. In all samples, tyramine contents exceed histamine levels. The descending order of the biogenic amine concentrations found in the red wines analysed is tyramine > histamine > cadaverine > putrescine.

Keywords: biogenic amines; HPLC; malolactic fermentation; OPA derivatization; red wines

Date published: 2020-10-20