The evolution of colour and free anthocyanins during the pre-fermentative cold maceration and alcoholic fermentation of Syrah musts was studied. Colour was measured by Tristimulus Colorimetry and anthocyanins were determined by HPLC. The results showed that the most significant changes were produced during the first two days of cold-maceration and no decrease in the anthocyanin extraction was observed during the whole cold maceration period. Quantitatively, malvidin derivatives were the most abundant anthocyanin compounds. With respect to the colour, pre-fermentative cold maceration has proved to be an useful technique to obtain darker, more saturated and more bluish wines. From a study of the colour-composition relationships using forward stepwise multiple linear regression, the colorimetric parameters L*, b*, h(ab) and s(uv)(*) were predicted from different individual anthocyanins, the 3-monoglucoside of malvidin being the most important free anthocyanin to predict the wine colour. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.