Biogenic amines in red wine: The impact of technological processing of grape and wine

The knowledge of the biogenic amines present in wine is important to consumers in terms of their potential threats of toxicity to human and to wine producers as a result of market impact. In the scientific field, biogenic amines have the potential to be applied as indicators of food spoilage. Biogenic amines are essential at low concentrations for metabolic and physiological functions in animals, plants, and microorganisms, but at high concentrations can induce adverse reactions in susceptible individuals. Despite the intensive research aimed at determining and reduction of biogenic amines, our current knowledge remains far from complete. However, a number of factors that influence the biogenic amines concentration in red wine have been already described. Most of them are related to the winemaking conditions in the cellars and some of them are environmental factors. During winemaking it is important to consider all factors beginning from viticulture practices, alcoholic and malolactic fermentation and physiochemical composition of wine, as well as, aging and storage of wine. This paper reviews changes of the concentration of biogenic amines depending on technological processing of grape and wine.