ALTERNATIVE YEASTS AND WINE CHARACTER

Thursday 6 November 2008

Scientists at IATA and CSIC in Burjassot, Spain have completed a study of various non-Saccharomyces yeasts for their vinicultural properties, especially their ability to produce esters.

Using synthetic medium, they cultivated 38 strains of species belonging to the genera Candida, Hanseniaspora, Pichia, Torulaspora and Zygosaccharomyces whereupon it was found that the second and third of these were the best producers of acetate esters.

H. guilliermondii 11027 and 11102, H. osmophila 1471 and P. membranifasciens 10113 and 10550 were studied further for their vinicultural properties. It was found that H. osmophila 1471 possessed a marked glucophilic tendency, being able to consume over 90 percent of the sugars initially present in the must and producing useful levels of acetic acid, medium chain fatty acids and ethyl acetate. It was also found though that it produced significant amounts of 2-phenylethyl acetate.

The researchers suggest that this strain could be a valuable addition to mixed yeast starters though further work needs to be done on its possible interactions with S. cerevisiae.

Food Microbiology 25(6):778-785, 2008 : Rational selection of non-Saccharomyces wine yeasts for mixed starters based on ester formation and enological traits / Viana F, Gil JV, Genovés S, et al

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