Ecological Distribution and Oenological Characterization of Native Saccharomyces cerevisiae in an Organic Winery

The relation between regional yeast biota and the organoleptic characteristics of wines has attracted growing attention among winemakers. In this work, the dynamics of a native Saccharomyces cerevisiaepopulation was investigated in an organic winery. In this regard, the occurrence and the persistence ofnative S. cerevisiae were evaluated in the vineyard and winery and during spontaneous fermentation oftwo nonconsecutive vintages. From a total of 98 strains, nine different S. cerevisiae biotypes were identifiedthat were distributed through the whole winemaking process, and five of them persisted in both vintages.The results of the oenological characterization of the dominant biotypes (I and II) show a fermentationbehavior comparable to that exhibited by three common commercial starter strains, exhibiting specificaromatic profiles. Biotype I was characterized by some fruity aroma compounds, such as isoamyl acetateand ethyl octanoate, while biotype II was differentiated by ethyl hexanoate, nerol, and β-damascenoneproduction also in relation to the fermentation temperature. These results indicate that the specificity ofthese resident strains should be used as starter cultures to obtain wines with distinctive aromatic profiles.