Correction: Biodiversity of Indigenous Saccharomyces Populations from Old Wineries of South-Eastern Sicily (Italy): Preservation and Economic Potential

Abstract

In recent years, the preservation of biodiversity has become an important issue. Despite much public discussion, however, current practices in the food industry seldom take account of its potential economic importance: on the contrary, the introduction of industrialized agriculture practices over large areas has often resulted in a dramatic reduction in biodiversity. In this paper, we report on the remarkable degree of biodiversity in the wine yeast populations naturally present in a small area of Sicily (Italy) where traditional (non-industrial) winery practices are still in place. Out of more than 900 Saccharomyces yeast isolates recovered from late spontaneous fermentations, we detected at least 209 strains. Most interestingly, when evaluated at the fermentation and technological level, a number of isolates were found to be superior to industrial yeast strains. Out of a selected group, isolates from two strains were used for experimental fermentations in a winery environment and the quality of the wines produced was assessed at the technological, quality and sensory levels. Given that the characteristics of the wines produced were found to be industrially appealing, the study demonstrated the economic potential of preserving the patrimony of Sicilian yeast biodiversity and highlighted the importance of maintaining traditional wine making practices.

Application of Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts to Wine-Making Process

“…Consumer and market demand for wines containing lower ethanol has shaped research to develop and evaluate strategies to generate low-ethanol wines [27]. Numerous studies have reported lower ethanol yields when using non-Saccharomyces yeast [23,28]. Another alternative is to exploit the oxidative metabolism observed in some non-Saccharomyces species [29].…”

Selected Indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains as Profitable Strategy to Preserve Typical Traits of Primitivo Wine

“…Nowadays, the wine fermentation practices widely include the use of commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae starters to ensure the reproducibility of fermentations from year to year and contribute to the production of more balanced wines [1][2][3]. However, the oenological practice of inoculated fermentation has determined a certain reduction and flattening of sensory characteristics of the final product, as a consequence of the decrease of diversity in microbial populations involved in fermentation [4,5]. Another problem is that the same commercial starter cultures were used for producing different wines, determining a uniformity in the wine characteristics, but the real number of commercial yeast strains is lower than we think, as manufacturers of different brands often designate the same strain with different codes or names [6,7].…”

Wine Industry’s Attitude towards Oenological Yeasts: Italy as a Case Study

“…An obvious consequence of the yeast inoculation practice is the standardization of sensory characteristics resulting from the fermentation process, including in quality wines, at the expense of the originality of aromas that could be expressed from the same products by exploiting indigenous micro-organisms [1,6]. In recent years, the exploitation of indigenous yeasts is a current topic in winemaking [7][8][9][10][11]. This trend supports safeguarding of the diversity of local products, and has a noteworthy impact in trade, especially by those consumers seeking typical foods.…”

“…Nowadays, for a certain style of wines, the use of the so-called "indigenous (or autochthonous) yeasts" is considered essential in providing for the valorization and preservation of the environmental microbial biodiversity [6]. Indeed, it has been suggested that the land from which the grapes are grown imparts a unique quality to the wine, especially when spontaneous fermentations are carried out [7,12]. Thus, the wineries that employ indigenous yeasts promote the enhancement of biodiversity and the territorial microbiological heritage.…”