Role of Hanseniaspora vineaephenylpropanoids in wine flavour

What is it about?

he role of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in winemaking, even accepted, has not been full applied by industry. In part by certain limitations which implies to work out of conventional with fermentation control. But, mostly by the lack of knowledge about the advantages of non-yeast fermentation over wine tipicity. In this work, using Hanseniaspora vineae as a non-Saccharomyces yeast model, aspects related to the wine flavour particularities obtained were studied

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Why is it important?

In several grape varieties the dominating aryl alkyl alcohols found are the volatile group of phenylpropanoids related compounds, such as glycosylated benzyl and 2-phenylethyl alcohol, which contribute to wine with floral and fruity aroma after being hydrolyzed during fermentation. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is largely recognized as the main agent in grape must fermentation, but yeast strains belonging to other genera, including Hanseniaspora, are known to predominate during the first stages of alcoholic fermentation. Although non-Saccharomyces yeast strains have a well-recognized genetic diversity, the understanding of their impact on wine flavor richness is still incipient. In this work, eleven Hansenisapora vineae strains were used to ferment a chemically defined simil-grape fermentation medium, resembling the nutrient composition of grape juice but devoid of grape derived secondary metabolites. GC-MS analysis was performed to determine volatile compounds in the produced wines. Our results showed that benzyl alcohol, benzyl acetate, and 2- phenylethyl acetate are significantly synthetized by H. vineae strains. Levels of these compounds found in fermentations with eleven H. vineae different strains were 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than those measured in fermentations with a known S. cerevisiae wine strain. Implications on winemaking in response to the negative correlation of benzyl alcohol, benzyl acetate, and 2- phenylethyl acetate production with yeast assimilable nitrogen concentrations are discussed.

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