Evaluation of fermentation with bioacidifying Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of Malbec wines

Abstract

The production of wines with lower alcohol content and higher acidity represents a challenge for the wine industry. The objective of this study was to investigate the fermentation kinetics and physicochemical parameters of Malbec wines fermented with a bioacidifying Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain compared to a traditional S. cerevisiae strain to determine its viability and impact. Malbec must from Luján de Cuyo (Mendoza) and two commercial S. cerevisiae strains were used: Zymaflore™ KLIMA (Laffort, France), capable of producing ethanol and malic acid; and Zymaflore™ FX10 (Laffort, France), which mainly produces ethanol. As a result, both KLIMA and FX10 completed fermentation in nine and seven days, respectively. The wines obtained with KLIMA showed a lower alcohol content (13.87% v/v) than FX10 (14.3% v/v), higher total acidity (7.78 g/L) than FX10 (6.62 g/L), lower pH (3.77) than FX10 (3.82), and lower volatile acidity (0.50 g/L) than FX10 (0.62 g/L). In addition, KLIMA showed higher concentrations of lactic acid (0.52 g/L) and glycerol (13.18 g/L) than FX10 (0.03 g/L; 9.31 g/L, respectively) by FT-IR analysis. The results demonstrate that the bioacidifying strain studied represents a viable alternative for producing fresher and more balanced Malbec wines, in line with current demands.