Must protection, sulfites versus bioprotection: A metabolomic study

The reduction of chemical inputs in wine has become one of the main challenges of the wine industry. One of the alternatives to sulfites developed is bioprotection, which consists in using non-Saccharomyces strains to prevent microbial deviation. However, the impact of substituting sulfites by bioprotection on the final wine remains poorly studied. For the first time, we characterized this impact on Chardonnay wine through an integrative approach. Interestingly, physico-chemical analysis did not reveal any difference between both treatments regarding classical oenological parameters. Nevertheless, bioprotection did not seem to provide as much protection against oxidation as sulfites, as observed through phenolic compound analysis. At a deeper level, untargeted metabolomic analyses revealed substantial changes in wine composition according to must treatment. In particular, the specific footprint of each treatment revealed an impact on nitrogen-containing compounds. This observation could be related to modifications in S. cerevisiae metabolism, in particular amino acid biosynthesis and tryptophan metabolism pathways. Thus, the type of must treatment seemed to impact metabolic fluxes of yeast differently, leading to the production of different compounds. For example, we observed glutathione and melatonin, compounds with antioxidant properties, which were enhanced with sulfites, but not with bioprotection. However, despite substantial modifications in wines regarding their chemical composition, the change in must treatment did not seem to impact the sensory profile of wine. This integrative approach has provided relevant new insights on the impact of sulfite substitution by bioprotection on Chardonnay wines.