Fermentation temperature and the phenolic and aroma profile of persimmon wine

Persimmon wine may offer nutritional and medicinal value as it contains compounds that may be beneficial to health. Product quality is impacted by fermentation and this study investigated the influence of different fermentation temperatures on the phenolic content, aroma profile and antioxidant activity of persimmon wine. Low ethanol concentration and high residual sugar content were found in wine fermented at low temperature (15°C) leading to sluggish fermentation. The majority of phenolic compounds determined by spectrophotometric and HPLC methods increased as temperature increased from 15 to 25°C, and then decreased at 30°C. However, total tannins, total flavonids and antioxidant activity, including reducing power and radical scavenging with DPPH, hydroxyl and ABTS, were enhanced by elevated temperature. For wine aroma, GC–MS demonstrated increased isoamyl alcohol, phenylethyl alcohol, acetic acid 2-phenylethyl ester, decanoic acid ethylester and 1-butanol-3-methyl-acetate. These results provided some basic insights for the quality control and commercial development of persimmon wine. © 2018 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling