Bee Pollen as Oenological Tool to Carry out Red Winemaking in Warm Climate Conditions

Abstract

Easily assimilated nitrogen, vitamins, fatty acids, and some minerals are some of the yeast nutrients that foster vinification processes. Additionally, some climatic, biological or cultural factors may induce variations in grape-must nutrient contents. The lack of easily assimilated nitrogen by Saccharomyces cereivisiae yeast has been proven to be the main cause of poor or inadequate alcoholic fermentation. On the other hand, the use of bee pollen during the alcoholic fermentation of white grape-musts has shown a positive effect on both the fermentation kinetics and the quality of final wines. Thus, it has been proposed as a nutrient-activator for the vinification of Tintilla de Rota grape-musts. In this study, the kinetics of the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation of grapes-musts/wines, yeast populations, and assimilable nitrogen consumption and physicochemical properties of the wines were monitored. The results showed an improvement in fermentation kinetics when bee pollen was present, in comparison to the control samples. Bee pollen is associated with an increment in easily assimilated nitrogen grape-must content. It was also been noticed that lower pollen doses (0.1 and 0.25 g/L) did not alter the physicochemical and color parameters of the grape-musts and the final wines. All of these facts suggest that bee pollen could be used as a beneficial activator-nutrient for some of the processes involved in the production of red wines.

Bee Pollen Role in Red Winemaking: Volatile Compounds and Sensory Characteristics of Tintilla de Rota Warm Climate Red Wines

“…In general, higher alcohols are not affected by the use of pollen, except for the 0.25 g/L dose, where isoamyl alcohol is slightly higher, without exceeding 400 mg/L. Taking into account the red wines, Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen (YAN) levels [20] were higher than those of white wines [21], it could be expected higher alcohol levels, however, this does not occur. These results imply that there is no relationship between YAN and increased alcohol production, and skin presence is buffering the effect of pollen.…”

“…Amores-Arrocha et al [20,21] stated bee pollen as a "Green nutrient activator", as they observed improvements in fermentation kinetics (increased fermentation rate, reduction of the yeast lag phase and increased cell multiplication), both in white and red winemaking processes, although its use is currently not legally authorized for industrial processing. In addition, at low doses, bee pollen has not affected the red wine's physicochemical composition or color parameters [20] Other published studies showed how bee pollen use improved both volatile and sensory compounds profiles of young white wines [22] as well as the aging kinetics and sensory profile of white wines undergoing biological aging [23]. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore the effect of bee pollen use on the profile of both volatile compounds and sensory profile in red wines elaborated with an autochthonous grape variety: Tintilla de Rota.…”

“…Bee pollen is a natural product with a rich composition mainly composed by proteins, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates, but also of amino acids, fatty acids, sterols, phospholipids, carotenoids and polyphenols [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Amores-Arrocha et al [ 20 , 21 ] stated bee pollen as a “Green nutrient activator”, as they observed improvements in fermentation kinetics (increased fermentation rate, reduction of the yeast lag phase and increased cell multiplication), both in white and red winemaking processes, although its use is currently not legally authorized for industrial processing. In addition, at low doses, bee pollen has not affected the red wine’s physicochemical composition or color parameters [ 20 ] Other published studies showed how bee pollen use improved both volatile and sensory compounds profiles of young white wines [ 22 ] as well as the aging kinetics and sensory profile of white wines undergoing biological aging [ 23 ].…”

Influence of the Presence of Grape Skins during White Wine Alcoholic Fermentation

“…To determine the viable biomass population counts were performed using an optical Nikon microscope with 400× magnificence, using methylene blue staining method in a Merck Neubauer chamber (Madrid, Spain) as reported in previous publications [27]. The relative density of samples was carried out according to the methodology proposed by Amores-Arrocha et al [28]. FAN content was determined according to Abernathy et al, [29].…”

A Comparative Study on Volatile Compounds and Sensory Profile of White and Red Wines Elaborated Using Bee Pollen versus Commercial Activators

“…Bee pollen has been widely employed by the research group in several studies, showing good results in both white [ 31 , 33 , 34 ] and red [ 32 , 35 ] vinification. For this reason, the dose of this comparative study was estimated as 0.25 g/L of bee pollen, previously crushed and preserved under dark and desiccation conditions.…”