Screening of Mulberry Accessions for Wine Preparation

Mulberry (Morus spp.) is a fruit known for its nutritional qualities and flavor. Traditionally, it is used as a natural medicine due to high content of active therapeutic compounds. Its fruits are rich in sugar and therefore, are potential substrate for wine production. Mulberry accessions viz., MI-118, MI-497 and MI-362 were screened for wine preparation. The sensory evaluation revealed that the wine prepared from variety MI-497 was the best due to an attractive deep red colour, 7.6⁰B TSS; 0.34 per cent acidity; 0.16% tannins; 0.23% reducing sugar; 0.41% total sugar; 2.89 mM/ml antioxidants; 10.17 mg/100ml anthocyanin and 13.2% (v/v) alcohol. The wine from mulberry accessions MI-362 was comparatively sweeter with higher TSS and acidity but low in anthocyanins content (2.46 mg/100 ml). HPLC analysis detected gallic acid, p-coumaric acid, catechins, kaempferol and epi-catechin as major phenolic compounds present in the wines. The data obtained revealed that the mulberry accessions MI-497 and MI-362 are suitable for wine production. Wine prepared from Indian mulberry accession MI-497 had the high antioxidant (2.89 mM/ml) and anthocyanins (10.17 mg/100 ml) content and thus, could have good market potential.