Region-associated microbial signatures persist during inoculated fermentation of Nebbiolo grapes.

Authors

Francesca Cristetti, Paola Di Gianvito, Vasileios Englezos, Gabriele Serafino, Ciro Orecchio, Marco Vincenti, Ilario Ferrocino, Susana Río Segade, Simone Giacosa, Irene Franciosa, Luca Rolle, Luca Cocolin, Kalliopi Rantsiou

Published in

Applied and environmental microbiology. Pages e0151026. Sep 09, 2026. Epub Sep 09, 2026.

Abstract

Wine fermentation is driven by dynamic microbial communities that influence fermentation kinetics and wine composition. During fermentation, both the dominant Saccharomyces cerevisiae and diverse non-Saccharomyces yeasts, along with bacteria, actively contribute to metabolite and aroma formation, potentially reflecting vineyard environmental and geographic characteristics. Despite growing interest in the spatial structuring of grape-associated microbiota, knowledge remains limited regarding the persistence of these microbial signatures during inoculated fermentations. This study characterized fungal and bacterial communities during inoculated fermentations of Vitis vinifera cv. Nebbiolo grapes from multiple vineyards, integrating chemical and volatilome data. The results revealed distinct temporal dynamics and region-associated patterns in fungal and bacterial communities, together with associated differences in chemical and volatile profiles. These findings indicate that geographical differentiation of grape-associated microbial communities is maintained throughout inoculated fermentation and is associated with distinct microbial succession patterns and chemical profiles.IMPORTANCEYeast and bacterial population dynamics during alcoholic fermentation play a decisive role in shaping wine characteristics, and the composition of microbial communities present on grapes at harvest is known to influence the fermentation process. In this study, fungal and bacterial community patterns associated with vineyard geography remained detectable throughout standardized inoculated fermentations, despite the dominance of a commercial starter culture. These persistent microbial signatures were associated with differences in microbial succession, chemical composition, and wine volatilome, supporting the concept that regional microbial imprints can remain detectable under commercial winemaking conditions.

PMID:
42714157
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Sep 2026.

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