The influence of duration of maceration, of different maceration temperatures during the last two days of maceration, and the effect of malolactic fermentation on the content of oligomeric and polymeric proanthocyanidins in wine, cv. Blaufränkisch, were investigated using spectrophotometric methods and the NP-HPLC procedure. Results show that the duration of maceration affected the extraction from seeds more strongly, while heating of must primarily affected the extraction from skins. An increase of temperature from 25°C to 35°C during the last two days of maceration increased total anthocyanins and high molecular weight proanthocyanidins. Malolactic fermentation lowered the color of wine, the amount of total anthocyanins and total polyphenols and may reduce polymerization reactions of proanthocyanidins.
