Microwave Cold Maceration: Effects on the Colour and Mouthfeel Characteristics During the Ageing Stage of Merlot Wine

Abstract

Cold maceration technique could increase the contents of active ingredients such as phenols, tannins, and flavan-3-ol in grape must, which contributed to the sensory characteristics of wine. This study investigated the colour and mouthfeel characteristics of Merlot wine after different treated techniques. When musts were fermented to wine, microwave cold maceration had been proven to have a positive effect on the extraction of active ingredients into grape must, resulting in a significant increase in visible spectrum, BI, L∗, total phenols, total tannins, ECG, WC, and CI, while fluorescence spectrum, a∗, b∗, total anthocyanins, total flavan-3-ols, C, and EC showed a decreasing trend during 120 days ageing storage, compared with without cold maceration. These results indicated that the microwave cold maceration technique could improve the colour and mouthfeel of Merlot wine. Based on this study, microwave cold maceration as a potential industrial application was worth further investigation in winemaking.