The effect of wine age and tannin composition on tannin activity across consecutive Pinotage red wine vintages

The effect of wine age on tannin chemistry and tannin activity values was investigated in red wine extracts according to a chemosensory approach. Sixteen Pinotage red wines of multiple vintages (2003-2018) were each isolated into four distinct polymeric fractions (F1-F4) on Sephadex LH-20 by flash-column chromatography. Tannin activity increased with molecular weight, where F1 was associated with positive values, reported for the first time, suggesting a different interaction mechanism than the usual exothermic value obtained in more polymerised samples such as F2 and F3. Weakly positive correlations were observed between tannin activity and tannin concentration by RPLC. Moderately positive correlations were obtained between either tannin estimation techniques, yet this was highly dependent on wine age and molecular size. Overall, tannin activity decreased across all vintages as a function of wine age, indicative of age-related reactions such as tannin oxidation, cleavage and precipitation. Chemosensory studies showed that while activity values across all fractions explained little variation, lowly positive correlations existed between larger polymeric fractions (F3 and F4) and mouthfeel attributes, namely astringency and bitterness, suggesting that highly polymerised tannins with higher activity values play a significant role in mouthfeel modification. More research is required to understand the actual sensory perception of proanthocyanidin size in red wine proanthocyanidin extracts and tannin-derived pigments (as opposed to wine) and to what extent it is influenced by parameters such as tannin activity across long-term ageing.