Microbial Resources as a Tool for Enhancing Sustainability in Winemaking

Abstract

In agriculture, the wine sector is one of the industries most affected by the sustainability issue. It is responsible for about 0.3% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic activities. Sustainability in vitiviniculture was firstly linked to vineyard management, where the use of fertilizers, pesticides and heavy metals is a major concern. More recently, the contribution of winemaking, from grape harvest to bottling, has also been considered. Several cellar processes could be improved for reducing the environmental impact of the whole chain, including microbe-driven transformations. This paper reviews the potential of microorganisms and interactions thereof as a natural, environmentally friendly tool to improve the sustainability aspects of winemaking, all along the production chain. The main phases identified as potentially interesting for exploiting microbial activities to lower inputs are: (i) pre-fermentative stages, (ii) alcoholic fermentation, (iii) stage between alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, (iv) malolactic fermentation, (v) stabilization and spoilage risk management, and (vi) by-products and wastewater treatment. The presence of proper yeast or bacterial strains, the management and timing of inoculation of starter cultures, and some appropriate technological modifications that favor selected microbial activities can lead to several positive effects, including (among other) energy savings, reduction of chemical additives such as sulfites, and reuse of certain residues.

Metschnikowia pulcherrima and Related Pulcherrimin-Producing Yeasts: Fuzzy Species Boundaries and Complex Antimicrobial Antagonism

“…Yeasts are known to exert adverse effects on other microorganisms by diverse mechanisms such as competition for nutrients, secretion of cell-wall lytic enzymes and siderophores, release of volatile compounds, production of killer factors, direct physical contact, biofilms formation, etc. and their combinations (for recent reviews, see [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]). Several of these mechanisms have also been implicated in the antimicrobial activity of the pulcherrimin-producing Metschnikowia yeasts ( Figure 3 , Table 1 ).…”

“…Strains producing less pulcherrimin were less effective antagonists and mutants defective in pigment production did not inhibit the growth of Botrytis (and other microorganisms) at all. According to one interpretation of the observed correlation, the antagonistic power correlates with the intensity of pulcherrimin production because pulcherrimin is an agent having antimicrobial activity (e.g., [ 3 , 9 , 21 , 34 , 69 , 81 ]). However, this notion is not based on experimental results and is hard to reconcile with the insolubility of pulcherrimin.…”

Effect of Co-Inoculation of Candida zemplinina, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum for the Industrial Production of Negroamaro Wine in Apulia (Southern Italy)

“…In agreement with previous evidence [8], the above wines produced by co-inoculation of the three microbial species were denoted by enhanced fruity notes, it is likely to be explained by the metabolic interactions between yeasts and bacteria [8,48,72,73]. This exploitation of microbial diversity in the production of typical wines with unique pronounced sensory quality is relevant to provide a robust (and sustainable) alternative to the instances for a return to spontaneous fermentation for the differentiation of traditional/artisanal fermented foods and beverages (the latter being a trend that poses risks for human health and the quality of fermentative processes) [74][75][76][77].…”

PTR-ToF-MS for the Online Monitoring of Alcoholic Fermentation in Wine: Assessment of VOCs Variability Associated with Different Combinations of Saccharomyces/Non-Saccharomyces as a Case-Study

“…Wine is a peculiar commodity in the agrifood sector in terms of business opportunities and innovative trends [47]. The management of AF deeply affects the optimization of the product quality and the improvement of process sustainability [48][49][50][51][52]. Several variables can influence the performance of AF such as grape variety, yeast species, yeast strain, nutrient availability for the yeasts, temperature of the process, addition of chemical compounds, and technological regimen [49,[53][54][55].…”