Production of wine from fermentation of vitis vinifera (grape) juice using saccharomyces cerevisiae strain isolated from palm wine

This study aimed at evaluating the fermentative performance of palm wine Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolate on Vitis vinifera (grape) wine production.Sterilegrape fruit must was inoculated with standard inoculum of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain isolated from palm wine. Variationsin Physicochemical parameters were determined during five days’ fermentation using standard procedures. Proximate analysis of the test fruit revealed low protein content (0.53%), but high moisture content (82.43%). During the fermentation, the pH values ranged from 3.50 to 3.27, percentage titratable acidity ranged from 0.020 to 0.051, while percentage volatile acidity from 0.085 to 0.125. The temperature of the fermentation ranged from 20 to 230C and the specific gravity values decreased steadily from 1.100 to1.010. Consistent increases in alcohol content was observed and at the end of five days’ fermentation period, the percentage alcohol produced was14.6%. The fermentation recorded total viable yeast count from 2.5x106 to 13.0 x 106 cfu/ml. Sensory evaluation of the wine revealed acceptable aroma/flavor and taste. This study indicates that Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain from the palm wine have good fermentative performance which suggested that it could be used for fruit wine production and other industrial applications preceded by further experiments.