ABSTRACT
Natural desiccation enriches grapes (and the derived musts), with a microAora that has adapted to low winter temperatures and a high sugar concentration in grape exudates. Musts prepared from dried grapes harvested at very low temperature (4-10 0c) during the winter months (January-February) in Northern Italy favors the fermentation and growth of cryophilic yeast varieties, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae v. uvarum, in the production of Recioto della Valpolicella and Passito di Caluso,
Low temperatures result in a long latency period (lag phase) before fet-mentation starts; a fact that unfortunately risks domination by undesirable yeasts. Such risks can be minimized by inoculation with a specific selected yeast strain.
