Melatonin treatment of pre-veraison grape berries to increase size and synchronicity of berries and modify wine aroma components

• Published in: Food chemistry 2015-10, Vol.185, p.127-134
• Main Authors: Meng, Jiang-Fei, Xu, Teng-Fei, Song, Chang-Zheng, Yu, Yong, Hu, Fan, Zhang, Li, Zhang, Zhen-Wen, Xi, Zhu-Mei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aroma components; Berry size; Fruit - chemistry; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Grape; Melatonin; Melatonin - analysis; Odorants - analysis; Synchronicity; Taste; Vitis - chemistry; Wine; Wine - analysis
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.03.140

•The effect of exogenous melatonin on grape berries and its wines was evaluated.•Melatonin treatments of pre-veraison grape increased the weight of the berries.•Melatonin treatments increased the synchronicity of the grape berries.•Melatonin treatments of pre-veraison grape berries altered wine aroma components. A comprehensive investigation was carried out to determine the effect of exogenous melatonin treatment of pre-veraison grapes on grape berries and its wines. Two melatonin treatments of pre-veraison grape berries increased the weight of the berries by approximately 6.6%. Meanwhile, this melatonin treatment could be beneficial in the reduction of underripe and overripe fruits and in enhancing the synchronicity of the berries. In addition, there were significant differences in the volatile compound composition between the wine produced from the melatonin-treated berries and the wines made from untreated berries. The wine from melatonin-treated pre-veraison grape berries had stronger fruity, spicy, and sweet sensory properties, compared to the wines made from untreated berries. Prolonging the treatment through repeated applications can enhance these effects and under different seasonal conditions, more pronounced effects on the grape quality and wine properties can be observed.