Abstract
Fermentation is a well-known natural process that has been used by humanity for thousands of years, with the fundamental purpose of making alcoholic beverages such as wine, and also other non-alcoholic products. From a strictly biochemical point of view, fermentation is a process of central metabolism in which an organism converts a carbohydrate, such as starch or sugar, into an alcohol or an acid. The fermentation process turns grape juice (must) into wine. This is a complex chemical reaction whereby the yeast interacts with the sugars (glucose and fructose) in the must to create ethanol and carbon dioxide. Fermentation processes to produce wines are traditionally carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, the most common and commercially available yeast, and some lactic acid bacteria. They are well-known for their fermentative behavior and technological characteristics, which allow obtaining products of uniform and standard quality. However, fermentation is influenced by other factors as well. The initial sugar content of the must and the fermentation temperature are also crucial to preserve volatile aromatics in the wine and retain fruity characters. Finally, once fermentation is completed, and most of the yeast dies, wine evolution continues until the production of the final product.
Highlights
Fermentation is a well-known natural process that has been used by humanity for thousands of years, with the fundamental purpose of making alcoholic beverages such as wine, and other non-alcoholic products
The great advance in wine production focuses on the immense possibilities offered by biotechnology, focused on the genetic modification of both the vines and the microorganisms that intervene in the production of wines, mainly yeasts, and lactic acid bacteria [16]
Enzymes can be added, such as glucose oxidase obtained from the fungus Aspergillus niger, which catalyzes the conversion of glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide, and reduces the ethanol concentration in the resulting wine by 0.7% v/v
Summary
The process of wine fermentation has been carried out for millennia without human intervention beyond the harvesting of grapes, mechanical processes to obtain the must, and relying on the proper development of the process to obtain a wine of acceptable quality. Technology has advanced considerably over the last century, both in terms of the knowledge of the metabolic processes developed by the yeasts and in terms of winery technology. The existence of increasingly demanding consumers, eager to discover new wines, has encouraged the adoption of new technologies and their fine-tuning in wineries. In this monograph, we will look at some of the latest innovations that we can bring to the world of wine from different aspects of its production. The data generated by these analytical platforms are complex, requiring the use of statistical methodologies capable of processing and analysing the resulting information [1]
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