The yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) strain 2137 involved in lychee wine production was used to investigate acetate metabolism at different temperatures during lychee wine fermentation. Fermentation tests were conducted using lychee juice supplemented with acetic acid. The ability of yeast cells to metabolize acetic acid was stronger at 20 C than at 25 C or 30 C. The addition of acetic acid suppressed the yeast cell growth at the tested temperatures. The viability was higher and the reactive oxygen species concentration was lower at 20 C than at 30 C; this result indicated that acid stress adaptation protects S. cerevisiae from acetic-acid-mediated programmed cell death. The acetic acid enhanced the thermal death of yeast at high temperatures. The fermentation temperature modified the metabolism of the yeasts and the activity of related enzymes during deacidification, because less acetaldehyde, less glycerol, more ethanol, more succinic acid and more malic acid were produced, with higher level of acetylÀCoA synthetase and isocitrate lyase activity, at 20 C.