Abstract:
Nowadays, consumers go
towards products that provide food security
and nutritional richness, consumption of
highly alcoholic beverages not complying
with these health-related requirements. This
study aimed to obtain low-alcohol wines by
performing sequential alcoholic fermentation
of grape must (Muscat Ottonel). Thus, 11
commercial yeast strains (10 Saccharomyces
cerevisiae and 1 Torulaspora delbrueckii)
were preliminarily tested in anaerobic and
semi-anaerobic conditions. Based on
laboratory tests, grape must fermentation
was sequentially initiated in semi-anaerobic
conditions (loose cotton plugs; intermittent
homogenization), with the T. delbrueckii
strain (106 CFU/mL) and the addition of
preliminarily selected S. cerevisiae strains
(104 CFU/mL), to the consumption of 50%
of the sugars in the must, to complete the
fermentation. By applying this technology,
dry wines were obtained with an alcohol
content lower by up to 1.10% vol., but with a
lower concentration of volatile terpenes, due
to additional must oxidation. Also, semianaerobiosis
enhanced glycerol synthesis by
yeasts (< 35%), with a positive impact on the
sensory characteristics of the wine.
