Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. Śliwowica Łącka is a strong plum brandy (slivovitz) that is produced ina submontane region of Poland by means of spontaneous fermentation of Węgierka plums. The aim of this study was to evaluate enological profile of S. cerevisiae indigenous strains isolated from spontaneous plum mash fermentation.
Material and methods. Fourteen strains obtained from three different stages of fermentation (initial, central and final) and characterised by different killer profile were chosen for the analysis. Fermentation assays were performed on the basal synthetic medium with 10% glucose. The fermentation kinetics, basic enological parameters by OIV methods and selected volatile compounds concentration by GC-SPME were analysed.
Results. Analysed strains exhibited different fermentation kinetics, as well as produced diversified amounts of studied volatile compounds. The highest ethanol synthesis (over  40 g·dm^-3) and fermentation efficiency (over 80%) was found in samples fermented with strains isolated from final stage of fermentation. Cultures from an initial stage were distinguished by higher production of acetaldehyde and acetic acid, and lower of isobutanol, ethanol and ethyl acetate, those originated from central stage showed increased synthesis of ethyl acetate and acetoine, whereas the strains isolated during final stage of fermentation formed more acetaldehyde, acetic acid and fusel alcohols and less esters. Strains that were present throughout the spontaneous fermentation were synthesized average amounts of compounds mentioned above.
Conclusions. High diversity of enological profiles among isolated S. cerevisiae strains was determined. The composition of Sliwowica Łącka is strictly dependent on presence and amount of the individual profiles during spontaneous plums fermentation.