Abstract

A non-Saccharomyces yeast strain, Debaryomyces vanriji, isolated from grape berry flora was found to influence wine volatiles of the cv. Muscat of Frontignan when co-cultured with native or inoculated with a selected strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae during fermentation. The concentrations of several volatiles were significantly different (p < 0.05) between the control and the 2 wines inoculated with D. vanriji. The latter were richer in fatty acids, esters, and terpenols. The increase in geraniol concentration in D. vanriji wines could be attributed to the hydrolysis of the corresponding glucosidic precursor by D. vanriji ?-glucosidase. D. vanriji inoculated musts showed higher levels of ?-glucosidase activity through fermentation compared to the control sample.