4. Conclusions
Mixed-inoculation with killer and sensitive yeast strains speeded cell death during second-fermentation and improved the foam and organoleptic quality of sparkling-wines, without nega-tively affecting the fermentation kinetics. This improvement seemed to be related to the release of certain compounds from autolysed yeast cells. However, no clear correlation was found be-tween foam or organoleptic quality and the compounds e poly-saccharides, proteins, and mannans e which have previously been suggested as influencing that quality. These results suggest that the mouthfeel and foam quality of these sparkling-wines are very complex properties that depend on many wine compounds. One solution to this complex and difficult-to-handle situation may be to use mixed inocula containing killer and sensitive yeast strains to speed cell death and improve sparkling-wine quality. This approach is interesting for industrial winemaking, especially using mixed-yeast inocula containing EX229 and Rod23-1B strains.