Selection and molecular characterization of wine yeasts isolated from the ‘El Penedès’ area (Spain) Original Research Article

A study of the microbiota present during the wine fermentation of five grape varieties from the ‘El Penedès’ area (Spain) was carried out to select autochthonous yeast strains for industrial wine production. In this study we identified members of the genera Candida, Dekkera, Hanseniaspora, Kluyveromyces, Torulaspora, Zygosaccharomyces and Saccharomyces in wine fermentation microbiota. Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as responsible agents of the alcoholic fermentation, were considered for a selection protocol. In this work we applied different enological criteria for selection, but previously we have characterized and differentiated Saccharomyces isolates by molecular methods to reduce the number of strains to analyse. Three strains were selected to conduct fermentations according to their characteristics. Finally, using mitochondrial DNA restriction analysis we demonstrated that the autochthonous selected strains are important contributors to the wine fermentation.