Nonlinear Behavior of Protein and Tannin in Wine Produced by Cofermentation of an Interspecific Hybrid (Vitis spp.) and vinifera Cultivar

Wines produced from red interspecific hybrid grape cultivars (Vitis spp.) typically have lower tannin concentrations than wines produced from vinifera cultivars, which can be attributed to the lower concentration of tannins and higher concentration of tannin-binding proteins of interspecific cultivars. Tannin in wines produced from hybrid cultivars may be increased by blending hybrids with vinifera. We hypothesized that blending of grapes prior to fermentation (cofermentation) would result in final wine tannin concentrations lower than those predicted from the individual components due to protein-tannin binding, but that this effect would be absent from monovarietal wines blended postfermentation. To evaluate this hypothesis, a high tannin V. vinifera cultivar (Cabernet Sauvignon) was blended with an interspecific hybrid (Marquette) at different ratios either before (cofermentation) or after fermentation over a two-year period. The tannin and protein concentrations of the wines were measured by methyl cellulose precipitation assay and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, respectively. Tannin and protein concentrations in blended wines were compared to values predicted from the linear combination of the two monovarietal wines. Cofermented blends with a high proportion of Marquette had up to 25% lower tannin than predicted, but observed and predicted tannin concentrations did not differ for most cofermentations and postfermentation blends. However, protein concentrations for many of the blends—especially from cofermentation—were lower than predicted values (>50% in some cases). Loss of protein due to adsorption to tannin was well modeled by a Freundlich adsorption isotherm.