Evaluation of fining efficiency of corn zeins in red wine: preliminary study

The ability of corn zeins, extracted from commercial maize flour in both reducing (RZ) and non-reducing (NRZ) conditions, in fining a red wine was investigated, in comparison with two commercial animal gelatins (G1 and G3 derived from non hydro- and hydrolyzed respectively). RZ, but not NRZ showed a good fining action in terms of turbidity decrease and removal of phenolic compounds such as anthocyanins, catechins and proanthocyanidins, indicating the need of protein reduction for fining ability. The results indicate zeins, if extracted from corn in reducing conditions, could be a good substitute of animal proteins in red wine fining