The wine industry is well known for its production of a large amount of wastes and by-products. Among them, unripe grapes from thinning operations are an undervalued by-product. Grapes are an interesting source of natural antioxidants such as flavonoids, non-flavonoids and stilbenes. A potential strategy to exploit unripe grapes was investigated in this study. Juice from unripe grapes, v. Sangiovese, was obtained by an innovative technique of solid-liquid extraction without the use of solvents. The juice was dried by a spray-drying technique with the addition of arabic gum as support to obtain powder; juice and powder were characterized for antioxidant activity, phenolic concentration and profile. Phenolic acids, flavonols, flava-3-ols, procyanidins and resveratrol were detected in the juice and powder. The powder was used as anti-browning additive in white wine to test the potential re-use of the unripe grapes in the wine industry. The results indicated that the antioxidant complex from unripe grapes contributed to increasing the anti-browning capacity of white wine. Other applications, such as food and nutraceutical products development, can be considered for the antioxidant complex extracted from unripe grapes. In conclusion, the method proposed in this study may contribute to the exploitation of unripe grapes as a by-product of the winemaking process.

Unripe grapes are a potential source of bioactive compounds which can exert antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. However, very little information is available about the composition of unripe grapes extracts and their extraction techniques. This study aims to evaluate the recovery of bioactive compounds and the antioxidant activity of the extract from unripe Sangiovese grapes obtained at an industrial-scale and the composition of the extract during processing. The extraction yield was approximately 75%. During the extraction, the total phenol (TP), antioxidant activity (AA) total anthocyanin (TAnt), pantothenic acid and choline content significantly increased. High concentrations of TP (2522 mgCATeq/L), AA (8227 μmolTEAC/L) and total water-soluble vitamins (1397 μg/L) were reached at the end of process. The antioxidant activity of the extract was positively correlated with all the phenol compounds and the highest correlations were found with procyanidin B1 (r = 0.994; p-value < 0.004), procyanidin B2 (r = 0.989; p-value < 0.004), kaempferol 3-O-glucoside (r = 0.995; p-value < 0.004) and quercetin 3-O-hexoside (r = 0.995; p-value < 0.071). Our findings contribute to the knowledge of the bioactive composition of unripe grapes. An efficient industrial-scale “green” extraction method, ready to be transferred to the wine sector, was developed to obtain a safe extract with a high concentration of bioactive compounds.

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