Role of major wine constituents in the foam properties of white and rosé sparkling wines

The chemical composition of sparkling wines is directly related to their foam quality, but the compounds responsible are not yet completely established. This work aims at identifying the contribution of the different wine compounds to the foaming properties of white and rosé sparkling wines. Our results demonstrated the positive contribution of anthocyanins and amino acids to the foamability parameters HM (maximum height reached by foam after CO2 injection) and HS (foam stability height during CO2 injection), and the negative contribution of proanthocyanidins. Mannoproteins and polysaccharides rich in arabinose and galactose (PRAG) were poor foam formers but good foam stabilizers. The different forms of malvidin showed the highest influence on the HM and HS parameters, followed by amino acid compounds, mainly β-alanine. The model to explain foam stability was only predicted by polysaccharides from grapes, concretely PRAG. To our knowledge, this is the first time these correlations in sparkling wines have been described.