The influence of yeast strain on the colour of Cabernet Sauvignon red wines

The colour of red wine is attributable to the extraction of anthocyanin pigments from grapes skin during the fermentation. Young red wines have higher amounts of anthocyanin and the aged wines have a predominance of complex polymeric pigment forms. Very little has been said about the particular involvement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae-in compounds formation related to colour and its stability. This work studied the influence of the yeast strain on the colour of red wine. The performance of S. cerevisiae Embrapa 20B/84 and S. cerevisiae Embrapa 1 vvt/97 strains was evaluated by microvinification trials of Cabernet Sauvignon. The colour attributes of the red wines produced were analysed using a completely randomised design with five repetitions. The red wines produced with the 1 VVT/97strain had the lowest content of non-coloured anthocyanin (NA). However, the concentration of polymeric pigment (PPC) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in wine produced with this strain.