Study of biologically active amines in grapes and wines by HPLC

The biologically active amines agmatine, cadaverine, histamine, phenethylam ine, putrescine, spermidine, and tyramine have been determined in different varieties of grape, aszu grape, wine and aszu wine from the Tokaj region o f Hungary. Ion pairs formed between the amines and octanesulphonic acid wer e separated by liquid chromatography on a mu Bondapak C-18 reversed-phase c olumn, and spectrofluorimetric detection was performed after post-column de rivatization with o-phthalaldehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol. The method was li near for the amines between 0.1 and 10 mg L-1, and for spermidine between 1 and 30 mg L-1. Comparison of the results revealed that the qualitative and quantitative co ntent of biologically active amines was mostly determined by the vintage of the wine and the technology used for wine-making. The biogenic amine conte nt of Tokaj wines is well below suggested limits for any of the amines, sho wing that the winemaking technology of the Tokaj region is of high quality The levels of biologically active amines (identified and quantified by HPLC ) in grapes, wines and aszu wines can provide useful information about the weather, growth of Botrytis cinerea in Tokaj, and aspects of the methods us ed for wine-making.