Microbial community composition and its role in volatile compound formation during the spontaneous fermentation of ice wine made from Vidal grapes

Vidal grape grown in Ili, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, is one of few grapes used to ferment ice wine in China. Microbial community structure and volatile composition during the spontaneous fermentation of ice wine made from Vidal grapes in Ili were investigated using amplicon sequencing technology and headspace solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometer technologies. Among bacterial genera, Sphingobium, Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas gradually decreased, while Lactobacillus and Streptococcus increased during the spontaneous fermentation process. As regards fungi, the relative abundance of Vishniacozymaand Cladosporium reduced, but Hanseniaspora sharply raised. Additionally, correlations between microbes and volatile compounds were constructed based on multivariate data analysis. The results revealed that the functional core microbiota (mainly composed of eight bacterial genera and nine fungal genera) during ice wine fermentation showed considerable correlations with the formation of twenty-four volatile compounds in ice wine made from Vidal grapes. For example, Saccharomyces was positively correlated with ethanol, ethyl acetate and isoamylol; Hanseniaspora and Candidawere negatively correlated with hexanol; and Lactobacillus and Streptococcus were positively correlated with 2,3-butanediol, ethanol, ethyl acetate, isoamylol and isoamyl acetate. This study-provides a reference for understanding the process of ice wine fermentation and improving the quality of ice wine made from Vidal grapes.