New precursor of 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol in grape juice: thiol-forming potential and kinetics during early stages of must fermentation.

Two volatile thiols, 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH) and 3-mercaptohexyl acetate (3MHA), are key aroma impact compounds in many young white wines, especially of the variety Sauvignon blanc (SB). Although great effort has been invested to identify their precursors in recent years, the origin of the majority of 3MH and 3MHA generated during wine fermentation still cannot be explained. Here we demonstrate that supplying an external source of hydrogen sulfide to grape juice hugely increases its thiol-forming potential.

Yeast genes involved in sulfur and nitrogen metabolism affect the production of volatile thiols from Sauvignon Blanc musts.

Two volatile thiols, 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH), and 3-mercaptohexyl-acetate (3MHA), reminiscent of grapefruit and passion fruit respectively, are critical varietal aroma compounds in Sauvignon Blanc (SB) wines. These aromatic thiols are not present in the grape juice but are synthesized and released by the yeast during alcoholic fermentation. Single deletion mutants of 67 candidate genes in a laboratory strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were screened using gas chromatography mass spectrometry for their thiol production after fermentation of SB grape juice.

The yeast IRC7 gene encodes a β-lyase responsible for production of the varietal thiol 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one in wine.

Three varietal thiols are key aroma compounds in Sauvignon Blanc wines: 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one (4MMP), 3-mercaptohexanol (3MH) and its acetylated derivative 3-mercaptohexyl acetate (3MHA). Screening of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains identified a clinical isolate with elevated 4MMP production after fermentation. Bulked Segregant Analysis of a cross between this isolate and the laboratory strain revealed a single major locus for 4MMP production near the telomere of chromosome 6.

Optimized fermentation of grape juice by laboratory strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Laboratory strains of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) based on S288C ferment grape juice relatively poorly. We show that slow fermentation appears to be inherent to this strain, because the original S288C isolate shows fermentation similar to current laboratory isolates. We demonstrate further that some auxotrophic mutations in the laboratory strain show reduced rates of fermentation in grape juice, with lysine auxotrophs particularly impaired compared with isogenic Lys(+) strains.