Abstract
In agriculture, the wine sector is one of the industries most affected by the sustainability issue. It is responsible for about 0.3% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic activities. Sustainability in vitiviniculture was firstly linked to vineyard management, where the use of fertilizers, pesticides and heavy metals is a major concern. More recently, the contribution of winemaking, from grape harvest to bottling, has also been considered. Several cellar processes could be improved for reducing the environmental impact of the whole chain, including microbe-driven transformations. This paper reviews the potential of microorganisms and interactions thereof as a natural, environmentally friendly tool to improve the sustainability aspects of winemaking, all along the production chain. The main phases identified as potentially interesting for exploiting microbial activities to lower inputs are: (i) pre-fermentative stages, (ii) alcoholic fermentation, (iii) stage between alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, (iv) malolactic fermentation, (v) stabilization and spoilage risk management, and (vi) by-products and wastewater treatment. The presence of proper yeast or bacterial strains, the management and timing of inoculation of starter cultures, and some appropriate technological modifications that favor selected microbial activities can lead to several positive effects, including (among other) energy savings, reduction of chemical additives such as sulfites, and reuse of certain residues.
Highlights
In agriculture, the wine sector is one of the industries most affected by the environmental sustainability issue
The presence of proper yeast or bacterial strains, the management and timing of inoculation of starter cultures, and some appropriate technological modifications that favor selected microbial activities can lead to several positive effects, including energy savings, reduction of chemical additives such as sulfites, and reuse of certain residues
The wine sector is one of the industries most affected by the environmental sustainability issue
Summary
The wine sector is one of the industries most affected by the environmental sustainability issue. Several programs for wine life cycle assessment (including initiatives following the European Regulation EMAS [6]) accounted, among other factors, equivalent emissions for electricity consumption and for sulfur dioxide used in the vinification phase [7], which are in turn influenced by microbial transformations and their management In this regard, one of the aspects of a two-way relationship between microorganisms and climate change in winemaking has been recently addressed and reviewed: the microbial potential as an adaptation strategy for the effects of climate change [8,9,10]. Special attention will be paid to microbial resources and processes which are already, or about to become, available for the winemaking sector at the industrial scale
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