The effect of a commercial pectolytic enzyme on grape skin cell wall degradation and colour evolution during the maceration process

The effect of a macerating enzyme and maceration time on the structure of grape skin cell walls and on wine quality was studied by making wines with different maceration times with and without the addition of enzyme. The results show that the addition of a macerating enzyme accelerates the extraction of phenolic compounds, reducing the maceration time needed for high quality winemaking. The degradation of grape skin cell walls was influenced by the enzyme, which mainly affected the pectin fraction of the cell wall.