Throughout alcoholic fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells have to cope with several stress conditions that could affect their growth and viability. In addition, the metabolic activity of yeast cells during this process leads to the production of secondary compounds that contribute to the organoleptic properties of the resulting wine. Commercial strains have been selected during the last decades for inoculation into the must to carry out the alcoholic fermentation on the basis of physiological traits, but little is known about the molecular basis of the fermentative behavior of these strains. In this work, we present the first transcriptomic and proteomic comparison between two commercial strains with different fermentative behaviors. Our results indicate that some physiological differences between the fermentative behaviors of these two strains could be related to differences in the mRNA and protein profiles. In this sense, at the level of gene expression, we have found differences related to carbohydrate metabolism, nitrogen catabolite repression, and response to stimuli, among other factors. In addition, we have detected a relative increase in the abundance of proteins involved in stress responses (the heat shock protein Hsp26p, for instance) and in fermentation (in particular, the major cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase Ald6p) in the strain with better behavior during vinification. Moreover, in the case of the other strain, higher levels of enzymes required for sulfur metabolism (Cys4p, Hom6p, and Met22p) are observed, which could be related to the production of particular organoleptic compounds or to detoxification processes.Wine fermentation is a complex microbiological and biochemical process in which the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays a central role. Nowadays, the usual strategy to carry out wine production involves the inoculation of selected yeast cells into the wine must. This method affords a decrease in the lag phase, a quick and complete fermentation of the must, and an important degree of reproducibility in the final product (6,20). Of the criteria proposed for the selection of the yeast strain to be inoculated (12,13,56,57), the ability to conduct vigorous fermentation, the production of desirable flavors, and the resistance to stress conditions are among the most important.Wine flavors result from a complex system of interactions among hundreds of compounds (30), many of them produced by yeast and bacteria in various biosynthetic pathways that are active during alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. The levels and activity of enzymes involved in these metabolic pathways therefore play a crucial role in determining the organoleptic properties of the final product.Throughout wine production, yeast cells are affected by a plethora of stress conditions (3, 6). To properly carry out the whole process, they must detect and respond to these unfavorable growth conditions without significant viability loss (6). For this purpose, yeast cells have sensor systems to detect variations in the env...