Selection of autochthonous yeasts for wine production

Character and bouquet of a wine is formed by a cocktail ofcharacteristics which include the terroir of origin, but also the abilitiesof employed yeasts. Together with Saccharomyces cerevisiaeit is possible to co-inoculate non-Saccharomyces yeasts whichcan confer interesting organoleptic properties to the wine. Therefore,the selection of yeast starters is a crucial point in order toobtain a sensorial quality product. In this study we have evaluatedthe characteristics of 29 autochthonous yeasts isolated fromdifferent wine-related samples from Slovakia. They were testedfor technological (for example ethanol tolerance, fermentationvigour, resistance to SO2, type of growth in liquid media, growthat high and low temperatures) and qualitative oenological characters(for example production of sulfuric compounds, fermentationby-products, enzymatic activity) performed either in Petri plates orin grape must. Combination of all results has brought to selectionof three potential wine starter yeasts: Saccharomyces cerevisiae,Lachancea thermotolerans and Metschnikowia pulcherrima. Thisinvestigation put together and describes in a single study varioustypes of analyses, including gas chromatography–mass spectrometryand Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, able to help otherscientific groups in screening their own isolated yeasts for wineproduction.