Abstract

This research evaluates the development of spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in 'País' grape cultivar wines and details the chemical and sensory characteristics of the resulting wines. For these purposes, red wine was obtained from grapes of this cultivar from the Itata Valley, Liucura Alto area, commune of Quillón, Ñuble region in Chile. A total of 12 wines were fermented at four different ranges of temperatures (T0 - control: ambient temperature: 12-22°C; T1 - low temperature: 13-17°C; T2 - medium temperature: 18-22°C; T3 - high temperature: 23-27°C). Although alcoholic fermentation (AF) was successful in all treatments, a higher yield was evident in wines fermented at high (23-27°C) and medium (18-22°C) temperatures. Malolactic fermentation (MLF) was only successful in the high and medium temperature treatments, which concluded the fermentation in 24 and 36 days, respectively, while the low temperature treatment (13-17°C) only showed a minimal decrease in malic acid content. In conclusion, the high and medium temperature treatments were found to have the highest yields of AF and MLF. The chemical parameters of all the resulting wines were within the legal limits, without AF and MLF affecting their quality, and only sensory differences were evident between the wines that completed MLF and those that did not, due to the secondary metabolites produced by this fermentation.