Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 How a microscopic yeast makes a big difference – how geographic limitations of yeast populations can determine the regional aroma of wine

How a microscopic yeast makes a big difference – how geographic limitations of yeast populations can determine the regional aroma of wine

Abstract

Aim: Microbial biogeography contributes to regional distinctiveness of agricultural products and is important to determine for quality and marketing of wine products. We evaluated the microbial influence on wine characteristics by considering the microbial diversity of soil, plant, grapes, must and wine in grapegrowing regions across Victoria, Australia. 

Methods and Results: We sampled soils, plant parts, grapes, must and wine across vineyards in Victoria. We extracted DNA for microbial diversity profiling of fungi and bacteria and used gas chromatography- mass spectrometry to separate and identify small molecules in the headspace of wine. At a large scale (~400km), we found that vineyard ecosystems are structured and distinguished by fungal communities, and that fungal communities were the strongest contributor to the aroma of wine. Further studies considered a smaller scale of microbial diversity and investigated the changes in fungal community composition and diversity during the annual growth cycle of the grapevine. We found that fungal ecology is dependent on the grapevine habitat (roots, leaves, flowers/fruit) and developmental stage during the annual growth cycle. The influence of microbial biogeographic patterns decreased during wine fermentation as the fungal populations were dominated by Saccharomyces spp. yeasts. Further investigation of the strain diversity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed that this yeast can determine geographic patterns at a small scale and determines regional distinctiveness to influence wine characteristics within a single region. 

Conclusions:

Our results show that microbial distribution patterns seen in vineyards in Europe, North America and New Zealand are also observed in Australia, but the composition of yeasts may be distinct. The ability to define a region based on microbial diversity and fermentative yeasts may assist the industry in more closely defining sub-regions in Australia.

DOI:

Publication date: March 17, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type: Video

Authors

Di (Echo) Liu1, Pangzhen Zhang1, Qinglin Chen1, Jean-Luc Legras2, Deli Chen1, Kate Howell1*

1School of Agriculture and Food, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010 Australia
2UMR SPO, INRAE, Montpellier France

Contact the author

Keywords

Fungal ecology, yeast, wine aroma 

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

HAZE RISK ASSESSMENT OF MUSCAT MUSTS AND WINES : WHICH LABORATORY TEST ALLOWS A RELIABLE ESTIMATION OF THE HEATWAVE REALITY?

Wines made from Muscat d’Alexandria grapes exhibit a high haze risk. For this reason, they are systematically treated with bentonite, on the must and sometimes also on wine. In most oenological labora-tories and in companies (trade, cooperatives, independent winegrowers), the test that is by far the most widely used, on a worldwide scale, remains the heat test at 80°C for 30 minutes to 2 hours (and some-times up to 6 hours). The tannin test (sometimes coupled with a heat treatment) and the Bentotest are still used. In this study, we show that all these tests give much higher estimates of the haze risk than the risk assessed by a 24-48h treatment at 42°C, which represents a heat wave.

Evapotranspiración de viñedo en secano y evaporación de barbecho en “La Mancha”

Un 94 % del viñedo español se cultiva con métodos y técnicas propias de los sistemas agrícolas desarrollados en secano en regiones de clima semiárido, donde las precipitaciones anuales raramente exceden los 500 mm

Bacterial community in different wine appellations – biotic and abiotic interaction in grape berry and its impact on Botrytis cinerea development

An in-depth knowledge on the conditions that trigger Botrytis disease and the microbial community associated with the susceptibility/resistance to it could led to the anticipation and response to the Botrytis emergence and severity. Therefore, the present study pretends to establish links between biotic and abiotic factors and the presence/abundance of B. cinerea.

An internet-based gis application for vineyard site assessment in the U.S. and matching grape variety to site

Vineyard site selection and determination of adapted grape varieties for a site are the most fundamental factors contributing to vineyard success, but can be challenging to ascertain

Influence of inactive dry yeast treatments during grape ripening on postharvest berry skin texture parameters and phenolic compounds extractability

Inactive dry yeast treatments in the vineyard are a tool used with the aim to improve the concentration and quality of secondary metabolites in grapes, leading to a better differentiation of the wines made from grapes differently treated. In this work, a foliar spraying treatment with yeast derivatives specifically designed to be used with the patent pending application technology of Lallemand Inc. Canada (LalVigne® Mature, Lallemand Inc., Montreal, Canada) was tested on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Barbera and Nebbiolo black winegrapes. The aim was to evaluate the effect of this treatment on the phenolic compounds accumulation, the skin physical-mechanical properties and the related phenolic extractability. Prior to analysis, the berries were sorted by flotation in order to evaluate their distribution by density class, and to determine the skin texture parameters of berries with different sugar contents, thus understanding also the ripening effect.