Metabolomics based on mass spectrometry for the evaluation of the impact of autochthonous yeast strains on the volatolomic and chemical profiles of sparkling wines

The production of sparkling wine (SW) through the champenoise method involves the "in bottle" secondary fermentation of the base wine commonly carried out using yeast strains belonging to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species. Nevertheless, the use of few widely used strains can cause a flattening of the sensory profile. To the best of our knowledge, few studies [2, 3] have so far investigated the impact of native starter strains on the volatile and non-volatile profiles of SW. In addition, there are no studies based on the comparison of volatile and chemical profiles of sparkling wines produced from two different Italian indigenous cultivars, i.e. Bombino Bianco and Bombino Nero, using both native and commercial strains. The application of an untargeted metabolomic approach based on HPLC-HRMS and GC-MS techniques has shown that the yeast strain is able to affect the chemical profile of sparkling wines by modifying the quali- quantitative profile of several secondary products of microbial fermentation, including polysaccharides, organic acids, phenolic acids and lipids. Moreover, an HPLC-HRMS/GC-MS correlation analysis was performed, resulting in a map that is a useful tool for monitoring different aroma release patterns. This contribution provides information to modulate the quality of regional sparkling wines from minor indigenous grape varieties using selected microbial resources.