Effects of Saignée and Bentonite Treatment on Phenolic Compounds of Marquette Red Wines

To improve the phenolic extraction and color stability of red wine made from cold-hardy grapes, two winemaking practices, saignée and bentonite, were applied separately and in combination on Marquette grapes at crushing. The effects of these winemaking strategies on Marquette wine’s basic chemical properties, monomeric and polymeric phenolic compounds were studied, as well as the development of color characteristics from crushing to 5 months of aging. The saignée (9% juice run-off) treatment showed little impact on the phenolic content of the finished wine, but showed an increase in color intensity. A hue shift towards an orange-yellow tone was observed in the bentonite-treated wines, which was associated with a loss of monomeric anthocyanins. The combination of saignée and bentonite showed less impact on removing anthocyanins and wine color, and increased phenolics content, therefore improving the extraction of non-anthocyanins monomeric phenolics. Although this combination treatment led to the highest concentration of tannin content after pressing, this difference between the control and other treatments disappeared over time. These results suggested that the interactions between tannins and other wine compounds still occur after removing proteins in Marquette wines.