Phenolic profile and antioxidant activity of Chinese rice wine fermented with different rice materials and starters

The polyphenolic compounds in wines are beneficial to human health. To better understand the effect of different factors on the phenolics and antioxidant activities of wine during rice wine fermentation, 6 rice materials and 7 rice wine starters from rural areas were used to ferment Chinese rice wine. The results showed that black rice and the starter O4 were preferred for the optimum polyphenolic content and antioxidant activity, respectively. In addition, the results indicated that the polyphenolics of the rice wines were mainly derived from their plant materials and that various rice materials could result in drastically different wine quality. In contrast, the total polyphenol contents could be less significantly changed by using different starters. The antioxidant activity results of these fermented wines were consistent with the results of the total polyphenol contents. The rice wines produced using 6 different rice materials were significantly different in antioxidant activity measured by ABTS and FRAP assay. Similar to the results of the total polyphenol content and the antioxidant activity, the wine samples with different rice materials showed significantly different polyphenolic profiles compared with those of the rice wine group with different starters. These results suggested that rice materials and starters have different effects on polyphenol extraction and conversion of rice wines.