The ability of three
Saccharomyces wine yeasts (
S. cerevisiae AWRI 838,
S. cerevisiae AWRI 1537,and
S. bayanus AWRI 1375) to liberate volatile compounds from sugar-bound aroma precursorswas investigated using synthetic and grape glycosides under different experimental conditions. Inmodel systems involving the incubation of yeast cells with either synthetic or grape-derived glycosidesunder conditions more favorable for glycosidase activities and less favorable for acid-catalyzedhydrolysis (pH 5.0 and 30
C), all yeast strains studied proved to be capable of hydrolyzing glycosides,with
S. bayanus AWRI 1375 displaying greater hydrolytic activity than
S. cerevisiae AWRI 838 andAWRI 1537. During the fermentation of a chemically defined grape juice-like medium containingglycosidic precursors extracted from
Vitis vinifera cv. White Frontignac (synonym Muscat à Petit GrainsBlanc), all yeasts promoted a significant hydrolysis of different precursors, which varied according tothe chemical structures of both the sugar and the aglycon moieties, as determined by GC-MS analysisof trifluoroacetylated derivatives. Hydrolysis of the White Frontignac derived glycosidic precursorsduring fermentation resulted in the release of monoterepene alcohols, terpene oxides, terpene diols,and 3-oxo-
-ionol, demonstrating the significant potential of these yeast strains to contribute to winevarietal volatile composition during alcoholic fermentation.