Influence of Microencapsulation on Fermentative Behavior of <i>Hanseniaspora osmophila</i> in Wine Mixed Starter Fermentation

• Main Authors: Grazia Alberico, Angela Capece, Gianluigi Mauriello, Rocchina Pietrafesa, Gabriella Siesto, Teresa Garde-Cerdán, Diamante Maresca, Raffaele Romano, Patrizia Romano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Fermentation
• Subjects: non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> yeasts; mixed starter cultures; <i>Hanseniaspora osmophila</i>; <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>; microencapsulated cells
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/7/3/112

In recent years, as a consequence of the re-evaluation of the role of non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> yeasts, several studies have been conducted on the use of controlled mixed fermentations with <i>Saccharomyces</i> and different non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> yeast species from the winemaking environment. To benefit from the metabolic particularities of some non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> yeasts, the management of a non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> strain in mixed fermentation is a crucial step, in particular the use of procedures addressed to increase the persistence of non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> strains during the fermentative process. The use of microencapsulation for cell immobilization might represent a strategy for enhancing the competitiveness of non-<i>Saccharomyces</i> yeasts during mixed fermentation. This study was aimed to assess the fermentative performance of a mixed starter culture, composed by a wild <i>Hanseniaspora osmophila</i> strain (ND1) and a commercial <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> strain (EC1118). For this purpose, free and microencapsulated cells of ND1 strain were tested in co-culture with EC1118 during mixed fermentations in order to evaluate the effect of the microencapsulation on fermentative behavior of mixed starter and final wine composition. The data have shown that <i>H. osmophila</i> cell formulation affects the persistence of both ND1 and EC1118 strains during fermentations and microencapsulation resulted in a suitable system to increase the fermentative efficiency of ND1 strain during mixed starter fermentation.