Wild yeasts selection for high-quality Patagonian wines

Abstract

The use of yeast starters indigenous to each winegrowing area is today a worldwide oenological practice aiming to imprint a differential character to the wine. This chapter summarizes the research carried out towards the design and development of indigenous wine yeast starters from Argentinean Patagonia that are currently nonexistent in the market. The results shown include diversity and criteria for Saccharomyces and non- Saccharomyces wild yeast strain selection as well as their contribution to the physicochemical and sensorial qualities of wines when they are used either singly or in combined forms. The advantages of these indigenous starters over the foreign commercial ones to imprint a differential character on regional wines are also discussed.