Abstract: Six kiwi wines were fermented from whole fruits and juices of Actinidia deliciosa ‘Hayward’ and ‘Xuxiang’ and A. chinensis ‘Hort 16A’. The polyphenol contents and antioxidant activity of kiwi wines were investigated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry. The results showed that total phenol contents in kiwi wines ranged from 676.80 to 1 172.63 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/L, total flavonoids, flavanols and proanthocyanidins were 109.11–484.33, 116.25–738.47 and 365.33–1 421.67 mg catechin equivalent (CE)/L, respectively, and total monomeric anthocyanin was 52.16–59.56 mg cyanidin-3-O-glucoside chloride equivalent (CGE)/L. Both fermentation methods and varieties influenced the contents of polyphenols. Overall, wines fermented from whole fruits had higher contents of polyphenols that those produced from juices, expect that the total phenol contents in ‘Xuxiang’ and ‘Hort 16A’ wines and the total monomeric anthocyanin content in ‘Hayward’ wine were lower. This finding illustrated that bioactive compounds including flavonoids from pomace could be dissolved into wine during fermentation. Antioxidant activity of kiwi wine was significantly positively correlated with total phenol content (P < 0.01). Gallic acid (17.32–74.08 mg/L), chlorogenic acid (4.85–49.82 mg/L) and (+)-catechin (15.89–47.79 mg/L) were the dominant individual phenols in kiwi wine.

Key words: kiwi wine, cultivars, fermentation methods, polyphenol, antioxidant