The systematic incidence of rainfall or overcast conditions and high temperatures impair grapes maturation and sanity. Recent studies show that vine growing season alteration through pruning enables berries harvest in climatic conditions more favorable to fruit maturation and that vines respond to pruning with acceptable yield levels. Under these conditions, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the physico-chemical characteristics of Syrah wine from winter and summer vintages of 2005 and 2006 cultivated in the city of Três Corações, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The winter wine from the 2005 vegetative cycle showed higher values of pH (3.91 × 3.59), total polyphenols (49.2 × 32.5), color intensity (10.75 × 5.68), anthocyanins (121.48 × 41.09 mg.L-1), total phenols (2.06 × 1.21 g.L-1), alcohol (12.65 × 10.78% v/v), and bioactive amines (10.36 × 4.46 mg.L-1) when compared to the summer wine. Similar results were observed for winter and summer wines from the 2006 vintage. Winter wines showed higher levels of phenolic compounds, which means better quality and aging potential. However, grapes cultivation under dry weather conditions and high pH contributed to increase bioactive amines levels. Such evolution should be followed during vinification to avoid toxicological risk.
Vitis vinifera; extemporaneous production; ripening; composition; bioactive amines
