Phenolic profiling of Cabernet Sauvignon berries and wines from different clones planted at four regions of Mendoza, Argentina

RASSE, MANUEL; MUÑOZ, FLAVIO; BUSCEMA, FERNANDO; URVIETA, ROY; BOTTINI, R.; BERLI, F.; FONTANA, A.

Punta del Este

Congreso; 41st World Congress of Vine and Wine; 2018

The ?terroir? is a concept widely used to define the typicality of the wine that is affected by genetic, environmental and human factors (e.g. grapevine varieties, climate, soil, slope, irrigation). The grapevine phenotypical characteristics and their wines biochemical composition depends on the plant material selected, the implantation system, the vineyard characteristics and the cultural management practices. Phenotypic plasticity is a phenomenon that plays a key role in the terroir because is the ability of an organism to express diverse phenotypes in different environments.The most reputed vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina, are located in the Uco Valley and Luján de Cuyo regions. The Uco Valley is characterized by high altitude vineyards (ranging from 900 to 1500 m asl), high levels of solar radiation, especially ultraviolet-B radiation, permeable stony soils, harsh winters and high thermal amplitude between day and night. Meanwhile, Luján de Cuyo is characterized by deeper soils and warmer summers. The Cabernet Sauvignon, a well-known world-wide Vitis vinifera cultivar, is very important in the Uco Valley and has the second major implanted surface (11%), after Malbec (49%; INV-2015), with potential to produce high quality wines.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the phenotypic plasticity, based on berry and wine anthocyanin profiles of different Cabernet Sauvignon genotypes implanted at different vineyards. The experiment was carried on during 2017-2018 growing season with two Cabernet Sauvignon clones (Mont Eden and Clone 7) planted on 4 vineyards at different Geographical Indications (GI) and distributed across 2 regions (Uco Valley and Luján de Cuyo).Al the grapevines were harvest when reached the commercial ripeness (24Brix) and the winemaking process was carried out in duplicate using 800 L vessels under standardized conditions. Then, the aging was in 50 L stainless steel tanks. Anthocyanin and non-anthocyanin compounds were analyzed and quantified using HPLC-DAD. The results showed that berries and wines of Cabernet Sauvignon from different GIs have composition characteristics highly associated with their geographical origin. Also, some peculiarities of the clones and interactions between sites and clones were observed. For example, the contents of trans-resveratrol and the relative abundance of dihydroxylated anthocyanins (cyanidin and peonidin), non-methoxylated anthocyanins and non-acylated anthocyanins, chemical structures with greater antioxidant capacity, increased significantly in the GI located at higher altitude, Gualtallary. Another compound of high qualitative value such as astilbin was associated with GI Altamira, while the coumarylated anthocyanins and hydroxybenzoic acids were different among the clones. This work show preliminary results for Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and wines of Mendoza, Argentina, including one of the most important regions of Argentina in terms of quality of its production such as is the Uco Valley. Our aim is adding new information related to the effect of plant material and vineyard location in the phenotypic plasticity and terroir concept.