Patagonian wines: the selection of an indigenous yeast starter

C. A. LOPES; M. E. RODRÍGUEZ; M. P. SANGORRÍN; A. QUEROL; A. C. CABALLERO

JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY

Springer

Año: 2007 vol. 34 p. 539 - 546

1367-5435

The use of selected yeasts for winemaking has clear advantages over the traditional spontaneous fermentation. The aim of this study was to select an indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast isolate in order to develop a regional North Patagonian red wine starter culture. A two step selection protocol developed according to physiological, technological and ecological criteria based on killer interactions was used. Following this methodology, S. cerevisiae isolate MMf9 was selected among 32 indigenous yeasts previously characterized as belonging to differentstrains according to molecular patterns and killer biotype. This isolate showed interesting technological and qualitative features including high fermentative power and low volatile acidity production, low foam and low sulphide production, as well as relevant ecological characteristics such as resistance to all indigenous and commercial S. cerevisiae killer strains assayed. Red wines with differential volatile profiles and interesting enological features were obtained at laboratory scale by using this selected indigenous strain.