The use of Torulaspora delbrueckii to improve malolactic fermentation

Abstract

The potential use of Torulaspora delbrueckii as a starter culture for wine alcoholic fermentation has become a subject of interest in oenological research. The use of this non-Saccharomyces yeast can modulate different wine attributes, such as aromatic substances, organic acids and phenolic compound compositions. Thus, the obtained wines are different from those fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the sole starter. Nevertheless, information about the possible effects of T. delbrueckii chemical modulation on subsequent malolactic fermentation is still not fully explained. In general, T. delbrueckii is related to a decrease in toxic compounds that negatively affect Oenococcus oeni and an increase in others that are described as stimulating compounds. In this work, we aimed to compile the changes described in studies using T. delbrueckii in wine that can have a potential effect on O. oeni and highlight those works that directly evaluated O. oeni performance in T. delbrueckii fermented wines.

FIGURE 1

Modulation of some relevant fermentative parameters or AF subproducts using T. delbrueckii, as sole starter, in sequential or coinoculation with S. cerevisiae regarding S. cerevisiae wines. Values shown are those collected from literature (Table S1). (A) Values for some fermentative parameters and production of ethanol, acetic acid and glycerol (per 100 g of sugar consumed). Each value represents a value reported for a fermentation where T. delbrueckii and S. cerevisiae were used and lower case letters indicate a significant difference at p ≤ 0.05 according to a Tukey post hoc comparison test (grey box). (B) Principal Component analysis with 95% confidence ellipses of the production of ethanol, acetic acid and glycerol (per 100 g of sugar consumed).

FIGURE 2

Variation of selected compounds using T. delbrueckii, as sole starter, in sequential or coinoculation with S. cerevisiae regarding S. cerevisiae wines. Values are reported as the difference to the control wine of S. cerevisiae. No value means no reported data in the collected literature. Sole: T. delbrueckii as sole starter; CO: T. delbrueckii and S. cerevisiae coinoculation in must; SE: T. delbrueckii inoculated in must and sequential inoculated with S. cerevisiae, followed by the inoculation timing when S. cerevisiae was inoculated. This figure was constructed using the data collected in Table 2.