Nitrogen Sources Added to Must: Effect on the Fermentations and on the Tempranillo Red Wine Quality

Abstract

Nitrogen supplementation in musts or during the alcoholic fermentation is a common practice to promote fermentations. In this study, the impact of the supplementation of two different sources of nitrogen during Tempranillo red wine elaboration was studied. Mineral and organic nitrogen was added after the exponential yeast growth phase and during winemaking, examining its impact on the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation development, on the aromatic wine composition and on the nitrogenous wine composition. The nitrogen supplementation did not provide neither significant advantages in kinetics and fermentations time, nor differences in the chemical wine composition. The aromatic composition of the wines improved with the addition of inorganic nitrogen, although its organoleptic evaluation was not favored. Moreover, the concentration of amino acids in wines increased slightly after the malolactic fermentation and significantly during the stabilization time, especially with organic nitrogen addition. However, the synthesis of biogenic amines did not increase in wines neither after the malolactic fermentation, nor after the storage period.

Keywords

• nitrogen
• Tempranillo red wine
• alcoholic and malolactic fermentations
• amino acids
• volatile compounds
• wine quality