Chemical and Sensory Characterization of DOC Red Wines from Marche (Italy) Related to Aging and Grape Cultivars

The DOC red wines Lacrima di Morro d’Alba, Rosso Conero, Rosso Piceno, Rosso Piceno Superiore, and Vernaccia di Serrapetrona are produced in the region of Marche (Central Italy) and have received little research attention. The characterization of monomeric polyphenols (HPLC-DAD), copigmentation parameters and tannin fractions (spectrophotometric essays), sugars, alcohols and organic acids (HPLC-RI), and colorimetric parameters (CIE) was performed on 30 samples obtained during three different vintages ranging from 1996 to 2000 (two replications for each year). The most significant components explaining the variability of the samples were the HPLC determinations, particularly malvidin-3-glucoside, glucose, and fructose. The bitterness and astringency of the wines were determined with panel tastings and all the collected data were analysed using principle component analysis and partial least squares methodologies. The extent to which the variance in these sensory measures could be explained by the phenolic compositon was determined. Wines obtained from the cultivars Lacrima di Morro and Vernaccia di Serrapetrona were statistically different from all other wines, which were obtained with different percentages of the cultivars Sangiovese and Montepulciano. Wines made from Lacrima were found to be statistically similar to a Spanish cultivar named Tintorera. Vernaccia wines were outliers because of the different processing of the grapes (it is a red, sweet sparkling wine). However, the influence of grape variety seemed to be more significant than wine-processing technology in distinguishing the wines by these chemical and sensory measures.