The antioxidant capacity of red wine in relationship with its polyphenolic constituents

Abstract The “antioxidant power” of a food is an expression of its capability both to defend the human organism from the action of the free radicals and to prevent degenerative disorders deriving from persistent oxidative stress. Purpose of this study is to analyse the antioxidant capacity (measured by means of the crocin bleaching method) of several samples of Sicilian red wines and to evaluate their dependency on the vintage and on the grape variety. Finally, the correlation between the single flavonoids compounds and the antioxidant capacity has been investigated. The analyses show that the antioxidant properties of red wine appear to be unequally influenced by the vintages for the different cultivars and that the correlation between antioxidant capacity and the total phenolic contents is weak. The latter can be explained by the fact that the wine’s antioxidant properties are influenced differently by each polyphenolic molecule.