New perspectives in safety and quality enhancement of wine through selection of yeasts based on the parietal adsorption activity

Abstract

The present article aims to review research papers that focus on the parietal adsorption activity of wine yeast and on its contribution to the enhancement of wine safety and quality. There is a great diversity among yeasts for their parietal adsorption activity: the outermost layer of the cell wall has a chemical composition that notably varies from yeast to yeast. Parietal mannoproteins can contain phosphate, pyruvate, or glucuronic acid, which impart negative charges, modifying the electrostatic and ionic interactions with wine components. The following could give a good reason to propose a specific selection of wine yeasts based on their parietal adsorption activity to improve wine safety and quality: (a) ochratoxin A content of wines is greatly reduced by expressly selected yeasts, sequestering the toxin during winemaking; (b) yeast influences concentration and composition of phenolic compounds in wine, above all by adsorbing them on cell wall; (c) among grape pigments, anthocyanins, in particular, may be adsorbed by yeast cell wall; and (d) yeast can also interact with wine colour producing anthocyanin-beta-d-glucosidase, pyruvic acid, and acetaldehyde or releasing mannoproteins and different polysaccharides. Genomic strategies could also be used to obtain a further enhancement of the adsorption/non-adsorption activity of wine yeasts. Based on winemaking requirements and on parietal adsorption activity, a specific selection of yeasts might be performed: (a) to protect wine colour during red winemaking, (b) to remove residual wine colour during white winemaking, (c) to selectively remove ochratoxin A, and (d) to protect phenolic compounds responsible for antioxidant activity.