Improving colour extraction and stability in red wines:: the use of maceration enzymes and enological tannins

Two commercially available maceration enzymes and two enological tannins were tested in Monastrell wines to determine their suitability for improving the chromatic characteristics, colour stability and sensory properties of the resulting wines. The greatest differences for all the wines, when comparing with the control wine, were observed at the beginning of the winemaking process, any differences diminishing in the finished wines. One of the enzyme-treated wines was used showed hardly any difference from the control wine, whereas the other enzyme-treated wine showed an improvement in their chromatic and sensory characteristics. The use of two different enological tannins did not provide any improvement in the chromatic and sensory characteristics of the wines, imparting a higher yellow colour and resulting in lower scores in the colour and aroma sensory characteristics, accompanied by a higher astringency, dryness and bitter sensory sensations.