Abstract

Most Chilean red wine is produced by spontaneous malolactic fermentation (MLF), which generates prolonged fermentations resulting in uncertain results, increase production cost, and lead to biogenic amine (BA) formation. The objective of this work was to carry out a preliminary study of an autochthonous MLF starter culture to perform shorter and controlled MLF to elaborated red wines with low BA content. The autochthonous Oenococcus oeni strain (OoB(6)) isolated from spontaneous MLF was assayed in bioreactors using filtered and unfiltered wines. OoB(6) strain efficiently carried out MLF samples showing a similar performance to commercial starter culture. Both accomplished malic acid concentrations (0.12 g/L) significantly lower (p .05) than the initial content (1.21 +/- 0.11 g/L). OoB(6) strain produced a 50% reduction in MLF time and showed very low BA formation (ca. 5 mg/L) without detecting the presence toxicological important BA histamine and tyramine. Novelty impact statement To the best of our knowledge, this work report for the first time a preliminary study of potential autochthonous MLF starter culture to elaborate Chilean red wines. Autochthonous MLF starter culture produced a 50% reduction in MLF time compared with traditional spontaneous MLF. Autochthonous MLF starter culture showed very low BA formation (ca. 5 mg/L) without detecting the presence toxicological important BA histamine and tyramine.