Characterization and Dynamic Behavior of Wild Yeast during Spontaneous Wine Fermentation in Steel Tanks and Amphorae

Abstract

We studied the dynamic behavior of wild yeasts during spontaneous wine fermentation at a winery in the Valais region of Switzerland. Wild yeasts in the winery environment were characterized using a PCR-RFLP method. Up to 11 different yeast species were isolated from the vineyard air, whereas only seven were recovered from the grapes surface. We initially investigated a cultureindependent method in pilot-scale steel fermentation tanks and found a greater diversity of yeasts in the musts from two red grape varieties compared to three white grape varieties. We found that the yeastsMetschnikowia pulcherrima,Rhodotorula mucilaginosa,Pichia kluyveri,P. membranifaciensandSaccharomyces cerevisiaeremained active at the end of the fermentation. We also studied the dynamic behavior of yeasts in Qvevris for the first time using a novel, highlysensitive quantitative real-time PCR method. We found that non-Saccharomycesyeasts were present during the entire fermentation process, withR. mucilaginosaandP. anomalathe most prominent species. We studied the relationship between the predominance of different species and the output of the fermentation process. We identified so-called spoilage yeasts in all the fermentations, but high levels of acetic acid accumulated only in those fermentations with an extended lag phase.