A regional starter for higher quality wines: an Argentinean Patagonia experience

DEL MÓNACO, S.; BRAVO, S.; CURILEN, Y.; CARREÑO, V.; CABALLERO, A.

Mendoza

Congreso; 37th World Congress of Vine and Wine; 2014

Organisation Internationale de La Vigne et du Vin

Abstract. In this work, the ability of a Patagonian Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain to drive red vinifications and to improve the quality of the regional wines was characterized. Vinifications were carried out at pilot scale (200 L) from 2012 to 2014 vintages. Pinot noir, Merlot and Malbec musts industrially obtained were inoculated with indigenous S. cerevisiae ÑIF8 strain or with S. cerevisiae F15 (Laffort) commercial starter (control) to reach initial cellular densities of 106cel/mL in the tanks. In all cases, malolactic fermentations were carried out spontaneously. After that, young wines were stabilized, clarified, filtered and bottled. Wine quality was evaluated through physicochemical parameters (INV and enzymatic methods), sensorial analysis and consumer preference polls. Both indigenous and commercial starters were able to satisfactorily implant, yielding normal processes and products. However, S. cerevisiae ÑIF8 vinifications showed significantly faster kinetics than F15 controls and the oenological characteristics of these wines were significantly improved, allowing to obtain a higher score than controls in the sensorial evaluation and to be preferred for the consumers (paired-preference test p