Contribution of Pichia manshurica strains to aroma profile of organic wines

Abstract

In this study, the volatile compounds produced by 11 Pichia manshurica strains—isolated from spoiled bottled organic wines of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and filter membranes—were evaluated in must and wine. Moreover, a quick, reliable and inexpensive method to identify this spoilage species was reported. In particular, a species-specific primer pair was developed using 26S rRNA as target gene. Primers were tested on different yeast species and a band of 300 bp was obtained only for P. manshurica strains. More than 70 volatile compounds were identified. The differences were quantitative rather than qualitative and the majority of the strains released compounds associated with off-flavours and off-odours in must and wine. The obtained data revealed the ability of P. manshurica strains to release compounds which could produce off-flavours and odours.