SELECTIVE USE OF WINE YEAST STRAINS HAVING DIFFERENT VOLATILE PHENOLS PRODUCTION

Among Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeasts, we found a high frequency of strains having the ability to decarboxylate 4-hydroxycinnamic acid and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-cinnamic acid. From Gewurztraminer juices fermented by S. cerevisiae wine strains with and without such character, we obtained wines with considerably different levels of volatile phenols and some interesting evidences of the likely precursors of 4-vinylguaiacol and 4-vinylphenol. The identification of yeast strains by electrophoretic karyotyping gave us the possibility of evaluating the effective contribution of the yeast in the organoleptic characteristic of Traminer wines associated with the concentration of such volatile phenols.