A review of the content of the putative chemopreventive phytoalexin resveratrol in red wine

Resveratrol, a naturally occurring compound of various fruits such as grapes, is thought to possess chemopreventive properties. The levels of resveratrol in grapes and grape products including wine, varies from region to region and from one year to another. This paper reviews the resveratrol content in red wine based on relevant published data. Red wine contains an average of 1.9 ± 1.7 mg trans-resveratrol/l (8.2 ± 7.5 μM), ranging from non-detectable levels to 14.3 mg/l (62.7 μM) trans-resveratrol. In general, wines made from grapes of the Pinot Noir and St. Laurent varieties showed the highest level of trans-resveratrol. No region can be said to produce wines with significantly higher level of trans-resveratrol than all other regions. Levels of cis-resveratrol follow the same trend as trans-resveratrol. The average level of trans-resveratrol-glucoside (trans-piceid) in a red wine may be as much as 29.2 mg/l (128.1 μM), i.e., three times that of trans-resveratrol.