Grapes and wines are now known to constitute a rich source of phenolics such as stilbenes andflavonoids. These compounds have been shown to have cancer chemopreventive activity and potentialbeneficial effects on cardiovascular diseases thanks to their antioxidant and antiplatelet properties.However, because little is known about African wines and their phenolic compositions, we investigatedwine samples from North Africa. A three-step method was used for the fractionation of the Merlotvariety wine: column chromatography followed by centrifugal partition chromatography and reversed-phase semipreparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Six polyphenolic compoundsof the Merlot variety (from Algeria) were isolated and identified by NMR spectroscopy, five of whichare known (
trans-resveratrol,
trans-piceid,
trans-
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-viniferin, pallidol, and astilbin) and one that isreported for the first time in wine, (+)-hopeaphenol, a stilbene tetramer. Furthermore, these moleculeswere quantified in 10 commercial wines from North Africa by means of an analytical HPLC systemcoupled with diode array detection. Differences in concentrations were found ranging in mg/L from4.6 to 45 (
trans-piceid), 0.66 to 3.45 (
trans-resveratrol), 0.2 to 1.2 (
trans-
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-viniferin), 0.2 to 9.2 (pallidol),0.3 to 3.8 (hopeaphenol), and 10.8 to 24.22 (astilbin). Such a high level of pallidol and astilbin hasnever been recorded in wine. North African wines may contribute to a significant proportion of dietaryintake of stilbene and astilbin, which may have health benefits.