Proanthocyanidin content as an astringency estimation tool and maturation index in red and white winemaking technology.

Selecting the appropriate type of barrel for wine maturation but also deciding on the optimum maturation length, is a challenge for winemakers. As different types of barrel woods emerge, it is of great importance for a guideline to be established, which could facilitate winemaking decisions. Since the sensory perception of the finished wine, and particularly the intensity of astringency, is a decisive factor for the quality of a barrel-aged wine, in this experiment, the structural characteristics of wine proanthocyanidins were determined and their correlation with astringency was established. According to the results obtained, the proanthocyanidin content and the type of subunit that is dominant in tannin chains could be used to construct an astringency estimation model. The findings could provide winemakers with a useful tool when deciding how long to mature a specific type of wine in a specific wood container without making it appear coarse and astringent.