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Fino wine is one of the most important Sherry wines and it is obtained through a complex and dynamic biological aging system. In this study, wine and veil of flor samples from fifty-two barrels with different aging levels and distributed in three different wineries from the Jerez-Xeres-Sherry winemaking area have been analyzed during two years. Some of the wine compounds most deeply involved in flor yeast metabolism were analyzed to take into account the blending effect of this system. On the other hand, veil of flor was analyzed by molecular methods, finding five different species: S. cerevisiae, W. anomalus, P. membranaefaciens, P. kudriavzevii and P. manshurica, being the first time that the three last species have been reported in this biological aging system. Since S. cerevisiae was the vast majority of the isolates, its intraspecies variability was also analyzed by the simultaneous amplification of three microsatellite loci, obtaining nine different S. cerevisiae genotypes, also differentiated according to their physiological properties. Biodiversity analysis showed there were significant differences between the three wineries in the three aging scales, although the overall diversity was relatively low. Moreover, variations in the relative frequency of the different S. cerevisiae genotypes were found to be seasonal-dependent.

Some oenological practices, such as the massive utilisation of commercial yeast and the consequent colonisation of wineries, can contribute to reducing the native yeast biodiversity. In this context, the vineyard could be a reservoir of autochthonous yeasts of oenological interest. Thus, the evaluation of the influence of different agricultural parameters on the biodiversity of yeast population in the vineyard is necessary. This work shows the results of the influence of some floor management strategies of the vineyard in the natural yeast population associated with the grape-berries. With this objective, a three year sampling plan was designed in the Shiraz vineyards of the Madrid region using three floor management strategies: bare soil by tillage, bare soil maintained with herbicides and soil maintained with cover crop. The results of this study have shown that bare soil by tillage could be a sustainable alternative for managing the soil, due to the reduced use of agrochemicals and the resulting high yeasts biodiversity. Nevertheless, the presence of herbicides in the vineyard has a minor impact on the diversity of grape associated yeast communities, and this could have increased the yeast populations. Hence, from the fermentative yeasts' (like Saccharomyces) point of view, in hot and arid environments where soils may be affected by the tillage management, the best option could be the maintenance of the bare soil with the use of herbicides.

Wine production in most countries is based on the use of commercial strains leading to the colonisation of the wineries by these strains with the consequent reduction of autochthonous biodiversity. This implies that wine styles could therefore become standardised. The vineyard could be an important source of native yeasts of oenological interest. For this reason the objective of this study was to compare two agronomic conditions with the aim of preserving yeast biodiversity in the vineyard. A three year sampling plan was designed to evaluate the influence of different agronomic parameters on the biodiversity of fermentative grape yeasts. Thus two vineyards, one organic and one conventional, with three different grape varieties (Shiraz, Grenache and Barbera) were chosen. In total, 27 samples were collected from both vineyards. Of these, 1080 colonies were isolated and a total of 9 species were identified. The strains identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae were genotyped by microsatellite analysis obtaining nine different electrophoretic patterns. Classical ecology indexes were used to obtain the richness (S), the biodiversity (H') and the dominance (D) of the species studied. The results indicated a clear influence on grape associated yeast diversity of the phytosanitary treatment used in the vineyard. This is the first time that classical ecology indexes have been used to study the ecology of the spontaneous fermentation of grape musts and the species Candida sorbosa and Pichia toletana have been described in vineyards of the Madrid winegrowing region.

This work seeks to obtain valuable products through an integral exploitation of lignocellulosic residues generated by agriculture, such as olive tree prunings. These sorts of residues are studied as alternative sources for lignocellulosic raw material in the paper industry and the black liquors generated could be used for several purposes, including the production of bioethanol. To reach these goals, a central composite factorial design was used to study the influence of operational variables [temperature (155, 170 and 185 ◦C), cooking time (40, 65 and 90min) and soda concentration (10, 14 and 18%)], on pulps and paper sheets properties obtained from olive tree prunings, likewise black liquors generated in these pulping processes were set up to enable both yeast strains (Saccharomyces cerevisiae CECT 1170 and Pichia stipitis CECT 1922) to be capable of doing an alcoholic fermentation at 30 and 26 ◦C respectively, 5.5 pH, and under 150 rpm shaking. The results were similar to those obtained with other agricultural residues which are alternative sources for the paper industry. The best values of the physicochemical properties of cellulose pulps, such as Kappa number (31.98) or viscosity (716.11mL/g) and the paper sheets, such as tensile index (608m) or tear index (1.655mNm2/g), were reached operating to high values of soda concentration and temperature and slight cooking times. However, the black liquors of this study were not an optimal medium for the bioethanol production. It might be due to the important presence of inhibitors in the fermentation processes, such as 5hydroxymethyl-furfural.