Vine-Shoot Tannins: Effect of Post-pruning Storage and Toasting Treatment

For the first time vine-shoot tannin composition was carried out by means of HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS. Two vine-shoot cultivars (Airén and Cencibel) with different post-pruning storage times were submitted to a toasting process and assayed. There were no traces of gallotannins nor ellagitannins, but a high proanthocyanidin content and a mean degree of polymerization (mDP) close to 3 were characterized. The higher concentration of proanthocyanidins corresponded to Airén after 6 months post-pruning storage and at 3 months for Cencibel. Procyanidins were the most abundant fraction (70–95%), which decreased with storage, and especially significant was the contribution of B1, B2, and B4 dimers. Prodelphinidins were also found (8–24%), increasing their % with storage time. Toasting produced a considerable reduction of proanthocyanidin content and a loss of a monomer mDP unit, suggesting that if used as oenological tannins, then they may be more bitter and less astringent when compared with the nontoasted vine-shoot samples.