Isolated Antarctic soil yeasts with fermentative capacity with potential use in the wine industry

The frequency of bushfires close to wine regions around the world has increased in the last two decades. The economic losses incurred when grapes and wines are discarded due to ‘smoke taint’ are substantial (i.e., hundreds of millions of dollars). Efforts to mitigate and ameliorate smoke taint are therefore crucial. Chardonnay, rosé and cabernet sauvignon wines made from grapes exposed to smoke during the 2020 wildfires in eastern Australia were subjected to various amelioration techniques: the addition of activated carbons, molecularly imprinted polymers (mips), and a proprietary resin (either directly, or following membrane filtration); spinning cone column (scc) distillation; and finally, transformation into vinegar.

Climate change presents a challenge for agriculture worldwide. Yet, crop productivity is negatively impacted by abiotic hazards such as high temperatures and water deficit.

Wine is one of the most representative components of Mediterranean diet. Moderate wine intake together with food, has been positively correlated with reduced risk of many chronic diseases. This beneficial effect seems to be ascribed to elevated polyphenolic content of wine [1]. Traditional approaches for the identification of wine biomarkers consumption include targeted metabolomics that focuses on the quantification of well-defined metabolites, losing a valuable information about a massive number of compounds. On the other hand, untargeted metabolomics can disclose a large quantity of signals corresponding to potential biomarkers in a single analysis with high sensitivity and resolution.

Wine aroma is influenced by several viticultural and oenological factors. In this study we used experimental wine making in a full factorial design to determine the impact of grapevine age, must turbidity, and yeast strain on the aroma of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Riesling wines. A recently developed, non-targeted SPME-GC-MS fingerprinting approach for wine volatiles was used. This approach includes the segmentation and mathematical transformation of chromatograms in combination with Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) and subsequent deconvolution of important chromatogram segments.

Bud fruitfulness is a key determinant of the potential and the actual yield. The formation of the grapevine yield spans over a period of two consecutive growing seasons (Ferrara & Mazzeo, 2023).