Abstract: In order to reduce the ethanol content in wine, mixed-culture wine fermentations with Candida humilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were carried out using different inoculation methods (simultaneous inoculation and sequential inoculation) at two temperatures (13 and 23 ℃). The results showed that compared with the pure S. cerevisiae fermentation, the co-inoculation and sequential inoculation of S. cerevisiae with C. humilis could significantly enhance glycerol content and reduce ethanol yield during fermentation at 23 ℃, especially the sequential inoculation, which exhibited a 17.56% reduction (i.e., from (14.75 ± 0.23)% to (12.16 ± 0.59)%) in ethanol concentration (V/V) compared to the pure culture of S. cerevisiae. The co-fermentation generated more esters than the single strain fermentation, and especially the sequential inoculation increased the concentrations of total ethyl esters and ethyl acetate by 18.30% and 16.03%, respectively and ethyl butyrate concentration by 2.77 folds and significantly enhanced the floral and fruity aroma. As for fermentation at 13 ℃, the co-fermentation showed an increasing concentration of β-damascenone, and increased β-damascenone concentration by 26.19% with the simultaneous inoculation compared with the control. These results indicated that C. humilis had potential application for producing reduced alcohol wine when used in mixed fermentation with S. cerevisiae, which could provide a new tool for reducing alcohol level in wine production.

Key words: Candida humilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mixed fermentation, temperature, wine aroma