Characterisation of hybrid yeasts for the production of varietal Sauvignon blanc wine – A review

Publication date: Available online 22 August 2019Source: Journal of Microbiological MethodsAuthor(s): Rodney Sebastian Hart, Neil Paul Jolly, Bongani Kaiser NdimbaAbstractThe wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae forms an integral part of wine production by converting relatively ‘neutral’ flavoured grape must into varietal aromatic wines. Additionally, non-Saccharomyces strains can be used with S. cerevisiae for the production of wines with more complexity. Yeast strains, to varying extents, produce and/or mediate the release of a whole range of key metabolites, which in turn contribute to enhanced aroma and flavour of the final wine, especially Sauvignon blanc. These metabolites viz. thiols are dependent on yeast-expressed enzymes during fermentation. Inoculation with an appropriate yeast will, therefore, lead to more commercial wine sales due to resultant wines with sought-after aroma and flavour. Likewise, inoculation with the incorrect yeast will have a negative effect on sales. It is also important to have quality control measures in place to ensure that the inoculated yeast strain quickly dominate, and is present throughout the fermentation process. Traditionally, the laborious contour clamped homogeneous electric field (CHEF) DNA karyotyping technique was shown to be reliable in this regard, however cutting-edge matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) biotyping is proving to be a faster alternative. As both method...

Source: Journal of Microbiological Methods - August 23, 2019 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research