Application of white wine lees for promoting lactic acid bacteria growth and malolactic fermentation in wine

In the context of ecological transition, the use of wine by-products for industrial applications is a major challenge. Wine lees, the second wine by-product in terms of quantity, represent a source of nutrients that can be used for stimulating the growth of microorganisms. Here, white wine lees were used as a stimulating agent for the growth of wine lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and to promote wine malolactic fermentation (MLF) driven out by Oenococcus oeni. By adding freeze-dried wine lees to wines under different conditions – including different wine lees at different concentrations and different O. oeni strains at various initial populations - it was observed that wine lees can enhance the growth of LAB and reduce the duration of MLF. The chemical composition of wines was also evaluated, proving that wine lees do not compromise the quality of the wines. In addition, wine lees did not seem to promote the growth of spoilage microorganisms like as Brettanomyces bruxellensis. Altogether, this work reports the possibility of recovering the lees of white wine to obtain a product favoring the malolactic fermentation of red wines. More general, we propose a recycling strategy of wine by-products to obtain new products for winemaking.