Abstract
Grapes of Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta and Merlot at very high maturity level were used for red microvinifications using a conventional Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain (Lalvin EC 1118®) and new S. cerevisiae strain generated using adaptive evolution-based strategies (IONYS ™ WF). All microvinifications were performed by triplicate and at low (16°C) and at high (27°C) temperatures. The results show that all the wines fermented with IONYS ™ WF, independently of the fermentation temperature and grape cultivar have significant lower ethanol content (average 0.60 %), higher glycerol content (average of 5.6 g/L), higher titratable acidity (average of 1.3 g of tartaric acid/L) and lower pH (average of 0.1 units) than their corresponding controls. It seems therefore that IONYS ™ WF strain can be a useful tool to mitigate the excess of ethanol and the lack of acidity that unfortunately many wines present nowadays. Moreover, the high glycerol production can also be an interesting contribution inasmuch as this compound increases mouthfeel and smooth astringency.
Highlights
It is a doubtless fact that in recent years the alcoholic strength of wines has increased significantly [1], probably due to climate change and because winemakers are searching full grape maturity [2, 3]
A wide variety of strategies have been proposed with this purpose [3, 4], among which we would highlight the selection of yeasts with lower sugar/ethanol transformation ratio [5, 6]
The aim of this study was to determine if this strain can really reduce the ethanol content improve wine acidity under real winemaking conditions
Summary
It is a doubtless fact that in recent years the alcoholic strength of wines has increased significantly [1], probably due to climate change and because winemakers are searching full grape maturity [2, 3]. Besides ethanol yeasts produce many other compounds such as glycerol, higher alcohols, esters, succinic acid, diacetyl, acetoin, 2,3-butanediol, etc. Some of the sugars are used by yeasts to increase their biomass, and a percentage of ethanol is evaporated in a greater or lesser extent depending on the CO2 release rate, the temperature and the dimensions of the tank.
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