Physicochemical characterization of pomegranate wines fermented with three different Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains

Three commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains: Viniferm Revelación, Viniferm SV and Viniferm PDM were evaluated for the production of pomegranate wine from a juice coupage of the two well-known varieties Mollar and Wonderfull. Further malolactic fermentation was carried out spontaneously. The same fermentation patterns were observed for pH, titratable acidity, density, sugar consumption, and ethanol and glycerol production. Glucose was exhausted while fructose residues remained at the end of alcoholic fermentation. A high ethanol concentration (10.91 ± 0.27% v/v) in combination with 1.49 g/L glycerol was achieved. Citric acid concentration increased rapidly a 31.7%, malic acid disappeared as result of malolactic fermentation and the lactic acid levels reached values between 0.40 and 0.96 g/L. The analysis of CIEa parameter and total anthocyanin content highlights a lower degradation of monomeric anthocyanins during winemaking with Viniferm PDM yeast. The resulting wine retains a 34.5% of total anthocyanin content of pomegranate juice blend.