The occurrence of aroma constituents in sparkling wines, with direct impact on their organoleptic characteristics, is affected by several factors, for example the base-wine particularities, grapes cultivar conditions, inoculated yeasts, the aging stage, and wine-making practices. This study evaluated the influence of different four commercial yeasts (IOC FIZZ™, IOC DIVINE™, LEVULIA CRISTAL™, and IOC 18-2007™) on the volatile composition of experimental sparkling wines. For this, five sparkling wines variants from the Muscat Ottonel grape variety were obtained. The base-wine was obtained through reverse osmosis and had a predetermined alcoholic concentration (10.5% vol.). In order to fulfill the proposed purpose, the experimental sparkling wines were characterized by the physical-chemical parameters (according to International Organization of Vine and Wine methods of analysis), volatile fraction (using gas-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry technique), and sensory descriptors. Data showed a key impact on the concentration of the volatile constituents (p < 0.05), depending on the type of inoculated yeast for the second fermentation. Regarding the sensory analysis, important differences can be observed due to the type of inoculated yeast. Only a minor influence on the physical-chemical parameters was registered.
Keywords: ethanol reduction; reverse-osmosis; sparkling wines; volatile compounds; yeasts.