Study of amine composition of botrytized grape berries.

Aliphatic primary and biogenic amines of grape varieties from two vintages were studied. We established that appearance and/or increase of both primary aliphatic and biogenic amines is due to microbiota living in/on grape berries. Aszú, gray rotten grapes infected mainly with Botrytis cinerea, grape berries infected mainly with Penicillium species, and intact grape berries were compared on the basis of amine composition using t-test, analysis of variance, and multivariate statistical analysis (principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis). The amine composition and amine content of Aszú grapes were significantly different (p < 0.05) from those of intact grapes despite the effect of the vineyards and the vintages. Grape samples coming from the same growing location, intact, Aszú grapes, and grape berries infected mainly with Penicillium species could be separated from each other with multivariate statistical analysis. We distinguished intact, Aszú (noble rotten), and gray rotten berries from each other as well. Evaluating amine values of grape samples independently of the place of origin, the Aszú and green rotten berries could not be differentiated. The varieties and vineyards have affected the amine composition of Aszú grapes, while these effects on intact grapes appeared only slightly.