Czech J. Food Sci., 2026, 44(5):441-451 | DOI: 10.17221/84/2026-CJFS

Comparative assessment of Blaufränkisch wines from Central Europe: Antioxidant activity and polyphenolic studyOriginal Paper

Silvia Jakabová ORCID...1, Martina Fikselová ORCID...2, Lucia Zeleňáková ORCID...2, Daniel Bajčan2, Natália Szárazová2, Andrea Mendelová2, ©tefan Ailer ORCID...3, Imrich Jakab4, Jozef Golian2
1 AgroBioTech Research Center, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic
2 Institute of Food Sciences, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic
3 Institute of Horticulture, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic
4 Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic

This model comparative study evaluated 16 monovarietal Blaufränkisch red wines from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia focused on five parameters related to their antioxidant properties: total polyphenol content (TPC), total anthocyanin content (TAC), antioxidant activity assessed by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, and wine colour intensity. Multivariate statistics were applied. The FRAP assay showed a very strong positive correlation with TPC (r = 0.968), supporting the central role of polyphenols in wine antioxidant activity. The highest TAC (285.6 mg·L–1) was observed in the Czech sample, while the lowest value (48.0 mg·L–1) was found in the Hungarian sample (overall mean 159.61 mg·L–1). FRAP results ranged from 13.6 to 21.53 mmol TE·L–1, with the highest value in the Austrian wine and the lowest in the Hungarian wine. DPPH activity showed a strong negative correlation with wine colour (r = –0.924) and a moderate negative correlation with TPC (r = –0.606). Statistically significant differences among countries were found for DPPH, FRAP and colour (Austria and Czech Republic for colour, P = 0.003 226). FRAP method, which aligns with TPC, appears to be better suited for characterising Blaufränkisch antioxidant activity than DPPH.

Keywords: total polyphenol content; total anthocyanin content; wine colour; DPPH; FRAP; wine origin

Received: May 19, 2026; Revised: August 27, 2026; Accepted: August 27, 2026; Prepublished online: October 22, 2026; Published: October 30, 2026  Show citation

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Jakabová S, Fikselová M, Zeleňáková L, Bajčan D, Szárazová N, Mendelová A, et al.. Comparative assessment of Blaufränkisch wines from Central Europe: Antioxidant activity and polyphenolic study. Czech Journal of Food Sciences. 2026;44(5):441-451. doi: 10.17221/84/2026-CJFS.
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