Grape
canes are viticulture byproducts representing a sustainable
source of valuable bioactive polyphenols. However, varietal origin
and postharvest treatment greatly influence the effective concentration
of biomolecules, thus limiting industrial development. With the aim
to develop grape cane extracts with high polyphenol contents, the
selection of a specific grape variety combined with optimized postharvest
treatment is the major determinant. A previously described postharvest
treatment comprising cutting grapevine stalks of 0.5 cm length and
storage at 15–20 °C over 2 weeks was applied on a selection
of 44 grape varieties representative of the genetic diversity of the
whole European collection and performing the screening of polyphenol
contents. Varietal rankings according to major polyphenols (catechin,
epicatechin, E-resveratrol, E-piceatannol, E-ϵ-viniferin, E-miyabenol C, ampelopsin
A, E-vitisin B, hopeaphenol, and isophopeaphenol)
were performed with and without the postharvest treatment. We observed
that postharvest treatment greatly influenced the total polyphenol
composition but also the ranking of polyphenol-rich varieties. This
polyphenol screening of grape canes from a large collection of European
varieties revealed the importance of postharvest treatment together
with the selection of varieties to develop natural extracts based
on grapevine wood biomass enriched with molecules with health benefits.