Biological Demalication and Deacetification of Musts and Wines: Can Wine Yeasts Make the Wine Taste Better?

Abstract

Grape musts sometimes reveal excess acidity. An excessive amount of organic acids negatively affect wine yeasts and yeast fermentation, and the obtained wines are characterized by an inappropriate balance between sweetness, acidity or sourness, and flavor/aroma components. An appropriate acidity, pleasant to the palate is more difficult to achieve in wines that have high acidity due to an excess of malic acid, because the Saccharomyces species in general, cannot effectively degrade malic acid during alcoholic fermentation. One approach to solving this problem is biological deacidification by lactic acid bacteria or non-Saccharomyces yeasts, like Schizosaccharomyces pombe that show the ability to degrade L-malic acid. Excessive volatile acidity in wine is also a problem in the wine industry. The use of free or immobilized Saccharomyces cells has been studied to solve both these problems since these yeasts are wine yeasts that show a good balance between taste/flavor and aromatic compounds during alcoholic fermentation. The aim of this review is to give some insights into the use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains to perform biological demalication (malic acid degradation) and deacetification (reduction of volatile acidity) of wine in an attempt to better understand their biochemistry and enological features.

The Use of Hanseniaspora occidentalis in a Sequential Must Inoculation to Reduce the Malic Acid Content of Wine

“…It is well-known that grapes harvested from cooler climates tend to accumulate more malic acid [35], imparting a tartness to a wine not often desired by consumers. To remove excess malic acid from wine, winemakers generally employ three methods: (i) physical methods which include blending and/or amelioration; (ii) chemical methods by adding bicarbonates; or (iii) biological methods by adding yeast or bacteria [36,37]. This is because wine S. cerevisiae strains lack a dedicated malate transporter and, with its malic enzyme being located in the mitochondria, cannot effectively remove malic acid from must or wine matrices [38].…”

Grapevine treatment with bagasse vermicompost changes the microbiome of Albariño must and wine and improves wine quality

“…Microbial supplementation is a standard procedure in the winemaking industry. For example, one of the most important steps in wine production is to lower the high acidity of the must and wine (Vilela, 2017); this can be accomplished through biological deacidification by adding lactic acid bacteria or non-Saccharomyces yeast strains to degrade the malic acid (Van Rooyen and Tracey, 1987). Thus, adding Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Lachancea thermotolerans can help the wine to reach its potential acidity and tastiness, thus producing a final wine with more fruity notes than the control (Benito et al, 2015).…”

Effect of Different Winemaking Conditions on Organic Acids Compounds of White Wines

“…The importance of determining malic acid in wine can be derived from high antibacterial activity, due to synergistic effects of the organic acids (especially malic and tartaric acids), alcohol, and acidic pH, respectively [3]. According to Vilela [35], Saccharomyces yeasts cannot efficiently degrade malic acid during alcoholic fermentation. In the first phase of the fermentation process, there is a conversion of small quantities of sugar into alcohol (approximately 2% vol.…”