New applications for Schizosaccharomyces pombe in the alcoholic fermentation of red wines

Abstract

Summary The fermentation of grape must using non‐Saccharomyces yeasts with particular metabolic and biochemical properties is of growing interest. In the present work, red grape must was fermented using four strains of Schizosaccharomyces pombe (935, 936, 938 and 2139), Saccharomyces cerevisiae 7VA and Saccharomyces uvarum S6U, and comparisons were made over the fermentation period in terms of must sugar (glucose + fructose), malic acid, acetic acid, ammonia, primary amino nitrogen, lactic acid, urea (a possible fermentation activator or precursor of other metabolites) and pyruvic acid (a molecule affecting vitisin formation and therefore colour stability) concentration. The colour intensity of the fermenting musts was also recorded. The Schizosaccharomyces strains consumed less primary amino nitrogen and produced less urea and more pyruvic acid than other Saccharomyces species. Further, three of the four Schizosaccharomyces strains completed the breakdown of malic acid by day 4 of fermentation. The main negative effect of the use of Schizosaccharomyces was strong acetic acid production. The Schizosaccharomyces strains that produced most pyruvic acid (938 and 936) were associated with better ‘wine’ colour than the remaining yeasts. The studied Schizosaccharomyces could therefore be of oenological interest.

Physiological features of Schizosaccharomyces pombe of interest in making of white wines

“…Biological deacidification of wine These data agree with that reported by other authors [5,15,[34][35][36][37] who report that malic acid can be metabolised by species other than Schizosaccharomyces although they only reduce its presence by some 25 %. In fermentations involving Schizo.…”

“…Schizosaccharomyces spp. has been described as a high fermentative power yeast [5], although in certain assays they showed slower fermentation kinetics [15].…”

“…is usually related to high productions of acetic acid in fermentations at laboratory scale [15]. This is its major drawback at least for the unselected strains commonly used in wine research.…”

“…possesses urease activity [14] that can be used in order to reduce the urea content during fermentation processes [15]. This compound is the main precursor of ethyl carbamate (a toxic compound) in wine [16].…”

“…on sensorial analysis and volatile compound composition [25,[29][30][31]. For example, this genus has been related to high levels of ethyl acetate, acetaldehyde [30] or acetic acid [15,31]. However, wines produced in partial fermentations with Saccharomyces spp.…”