Characteristics of grape must of perspective genotypes in autochthonous grapevine variety Prokupac

The autochthonous, i.e. local, red wine variety Prokupac is one of the most important varieties in Serbia. In the past, this variety was the leading one in the largest number of wine-growing areas of our country. The Prokupac variety is currently the most represented in the Tri Morave wine-growing region (Central Serbia), while the largest number of vineyards with this variety are located in the Zupa wine-growing subregion. Due to its importance as an old and traditional variety, certain researches of this variety have been initiated in recent years in wine-growing areas where Prokupac is traditionally grown. Certain scientific activities were initiated to isolate different genotypes with improved production and use value, all with the aim of clonal selection of this variety. In this paper, some characteristics and quality parameters of the more promising Prokupac genotypes that were isolated in the Zupa wine-growing subregion in the Aleksandrovac municipality are presented. More extensive research was carried out on grapes from the harvest of 2019, 2020 and 2021 with 16 selected genotypes, namely eight genotypes from the Latkovac locality and eight genotypes from the Drenca locality. In addition to laboratory analyses of sugar, acid and pH content in the grape must, the theoretical alcohol content was also calculated. Furthermore, spectrophotometric methods were used to determine colour intensity A-420, colour intensity A-520, colour intensity A-620 and total colour intensity, as well as colour tonality. The analyses showed that certain main quality parameters from the research are within the value limits as in earlier research, but that the acid content is generally more optimal for red wine varieties compared to the research of that parameter carried out in the earlier period in other wine-growing areas (Fruska Gora and Cegar wine-growing subregions). Moreover, in our research, the sugar content of the grape is higher than the established values of that parameter in the grape must from the Cegar wine-growing subregion.