Chapter 7. Safety and healthiness enhancement of red wines by selected microbial starters

The modern consumer is remarkably health conscious; consequently, he searches for foods and beverages having positive biological properties, such as high contents in antioxidant and anticancer substances and low content in toxic compounds. Wine safety and healthiness depend on the interaction among various factors, several of which of microbial origin. In general, the effects of these factors on wine composition and safety are studied separately. This chapter explores scientific knowledge on the microbial role in the healthiness and safety enhancement of red wines. The following could give a good reason to propose a specific selection of microbial starters: (a) production of wines with low levels of sulphur dioxide using yeasts able to inhibit malolactic fermentation; (b) production of wines with low amounts of acetaldehyde using low-producing yeasts or acetaldehyde-removing lactic acid bacteria; (c) production of wines with low amounts of methanol using low-producing yeasts; (d) production of wines with low amounts of ethyl carbamate using yeasts low-producing urea during arginine degradation or lactic acid bacteria low-producing ethyl carbamate; (e) production of wines with low amounts of biogenic amines using low-producing yeasts or lactic acid bacteria; (f) production of wines with low amounts of medium-chain fatty acids using low-producing yeasts; (g) production of wines with high healthy phenolic compounds content using yeasts producing enzymes, reactive metabolites and/or parietal mannoproteins that interact with phenolic compounds; (h) production of wines with low amounts of ochratoxin A using yeasts or lactic acid bacteria able to remove it; (i) must detoxification by selected yeasts from pesticides, fungicides, and heavy metals originating from vineyard treatments. Genomic strategies could also be used to improve the useful microbial traits.