Content of endogenous sulfur dioxide in wines

Abstract

Content of free and total endogenous sulfur dioxide were evaluated by classical iodometric titration in must, during winemaking processes and in bio-wine. No exogenous sulfur dioxide was added in any technological operations to simplify the evaluations. In addition, the results were corrected on the content of reductons (total content of reducing substances). The results confirmed formation of endogenous sulfur dioxide from sulfur containing substances (sulfur containing amino acids etc.) in both experiments. Microbial sulfur dioxide is preferably bound to carbonyl substances. Only minor part is present in the free (active) form of the sulfur dioxide. In addition, total content of polyphenols (TPC) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were determined by spectrophotometry at the same time. A procedure OIV-MA-AS323-O4B: R 2009 was used. Contents of "free" and "total" sulfur dioxide (with/without correction on contents of reductons) and total content of reductones were determined after complexing the sulfur dioxide with formaldehyde. A standard spectrophotometric method using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was applied for determination of total content of polyphenolics (TPC) at 765 nm after 60 min incubation. The results were expressed as tannin equivalents (in mg.L -1). A standard DPPH (2,2´-difenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl dissolved in methanol) spectrophotometric method was applied for determination of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) at 515 nm. Depletion of the color intensity was measured after 60 min incubation against blank (methanol) and absorbance decrease Δ(A) = (A 0 - A 1 )/A 0 was calculated and used for construction of calibration curve. The TAC values were expressed as ascorbic acid concentrations (in mg.L -1 ).