THEME-4 - IMMOBILIZED CELL TECHNOLOGY IN WINE PRODUCTION

In spite of its traditional nature, wine making is largely concerned w ith the progress of biotechnology. High cell density reactors have pot ential for enology: improved performance of alcoholic and malolactic f ermentations, smaller scale fermentation facilities, adaptation to con tinuous processes. Among the immobilization techniques, cell entrapmen t in alginate beads seems to be an impressive one. Alcoholic fermentat ion of wine, malolactic fermentation, bottle fermentation known as ''M ethode champenoise'' and sparkling wine are among the industrial appli cations. Knowledge of kinetics and physiology in microorganisms in het erogeneous media has expanded in the last few years. The use of immobi lized yeast cells for the champagne method would greatly simplify ''re muage''. The compared metabolism of entrapped and free cells during th e bottle fermentation shows differences, but the final product does no t reveal significant sensory disparity. New products can be obtained w ith more thoroughly controlled conditions.