Dominant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains characterize Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a native grape variety of Vitis vinifera L., grown in central Italy and used for production of high quality red wines. Limited studies have been carried out to improve its enological characteristics through the use of indigenous strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The aim of the present work was to monitor the succession of yeast populations during Montepulciano d'Abruzzo fermentations inoculated with selected native S. cerevisiae strains from Teramo area (Abruzzi region, Italy). In the present study, the molecular detection of yeasts was carried out directly from must or wine samples. The ability of the inoculated strains to compete with native yeast populations and drive fermentation was evaluated by microsatellite analyses. Furthermore, the impact of strains competition on chemical and aroma compounds was investigated. The growth of selected, indigenous S. cerevisiae added as starters was monitored during Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wine production in some big cellars of the production area. In all the fermentations the addition of starter strain, caused a decrease of the non-Saccharomyces yeasts. Wines obtained by fermentation with the indigenous starters showed some different characteristics, according to the chemical and sensory analyses. The concentrations of most of the volatile compounds were influenced by the autochthonous yeast strains that were able to produce wines with different volatile profiles, some of them rich in alcohols and others in fruity esters. This study highlighted that among selected starters with high fermentative capacity, some are able to dominate better than other natural wine yeast biota, whereas some strains can interact and survive besides native yeast populations during the fermentation. As a consequence, the dominance character can have a positive or negative effect on wine quality and has to be considered in the frame of yeast selection in order to improve or characterize traditional wines. Winemakers could choose among different degrees of yeast dominance to modulate the interaction among starter and native wine yeast population.Vitis vinifera S. cerevisiae Saccharomyces cerevisiae Saccharomyces[...]