Phenolic compound profiles in berry skins from nine red wine grape cultivars in northwest China

Phenolic compound profiles were investigated by HPLC-MS in two consecutive years to assess genotypic variation in berry skins of nine red Vitis vinifera cultivars. The results showed that the types and levels of phenolic compounds greatly varied with cultivar. Common wine grape cultivars such as Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Gernischt and Merlot contained more types of anthocyanins, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, stilbenes and phenolic acids than Gamay, Yan73, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Muskat Rosovyi. Yan 73 and Pinot Noir had abundant anthocyanins, but only a few nonanthocyanin phenolic compounds. Gamay, Zinfandel and Muskat Rosovyi contained only a few anthocyanins and flavonols. For a grape cultivar, the ratio of one anthocyanin content to total anthocyanin content did not change greatly from one year to the next, unlike for non-anthocyanins. Cluster analysis showed that except for Syrah and Yan 73, the phenolic profiles in the tested grape cultivars had no significant year-to-year variations.