Use of fortified pied de cuve as an innovative method to start spontaneous alcoholic fermentation for red winemaking

Background and Aims Some wineries, in order to promote the growth of yeasts able to ferment grape musts, traditionally produce wines using the ‘pied de cuve’ method. The aim of the present work was to study the performance of fortified pied de cuve (FPdC) prepared by addition of wine. Method and Results Two FPdCs were prepared with the addition of wine at 1.5 and 3% (v/v) of ethanol to the musts and allowed to spontaneously ferment. The FPdCs were then added to fresh bulk musts in order to accelerate the spontaneous alcoholic fermentation (AF). Interestingly, several Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated during the pied de cuve preparation were detected at the highest concentration thro…