AROMATIC AND FERMENTATIVE PERFORMANCES OF HANSENIASPORA VINEAE IN DIFFERENT SEQUENTIAL INOCULATION PROTOCOLS WITH SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE FOR WHITE WINEMAKING

Xinomavro is a red grape variety from Northern Greece (Protected Designation of Origin), known for the nice acidities, perfectly appropriate for sparkling wine production (Rosé and Blanc de Noir). The elabo- ration of sparkling wine requires technical as well as scientific skills. Although the impact of the yeast strains and their metabolites on the final product quality is well documented, the action of bacteria still remains unknown.
The present work focuses (i) on the population diversity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from sparkling wines and (ii) on the technological effect of the species during sparkling wine elaboration.

Infection of grapes (Vitis vinifera) by Botrytis cinerea (grey mould) is a frequent occurrence in vineyards and during prolonged wet and humid conditions can lead to significant detrimental impact on yield and overall quality. Growth of B. cinerea causes oxidisation of phenolic compounds resulting in a loss of colour and formation of a suite of off-flavours and odours in wine made from excessively infected fruit. Apart from wine grapes, developing post-harvest B. cinerea infection in high-value horticultural products during storage, shipment and marketing may cause significant loss in fresh fruits, vegetables and other crops. A rapid and sensitive assessment method to detect, screen and quantify fungal infection would greatly assist viticultural growers and winemakers in determining fruit quality.

Biofilms are sessile microbial communities whose lifestyle confers specific properties. They can be defined as a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to a surface and considered as a method of immobilisation. Immobilised microorganisms offer many advantages for industrial processes in the production of alcoholic beverages and specially increasing cell densities for a better management of fermentation rates.

Changes in climate have been influencing the quality of wine grapes worldwide. The impact of extreme climate events over short periods is increasingly recognized as a serious risk to grape quality and yield quantity. In this study the mitigation effects of a pulsed water spray on vine canopy during heatwave events has been evaluated for maintaining vine condition during the growing season and grape quality. Vines of three varieties (Malbec, Bonarda, and Syrah) under drip irrigation in the UNCuyo experimental vineyard were treated with an overhead pulsed water spray.

The pre-fermentative steps play a relevant role for the characteristics of white wine [1]. In particular, the grape pressing can affect the chemical composition and sensory profile and its optimized management leads to the desired extraction of aromas and their precursors, and phenols resulting in a balanced wine [2-4]. These aspects are important especially for must addressed to the sparkling wine as appropriate extraction of phenols is expected being dependent to grape composition, as well.