Grape juice and wine yeast: happy marriages and how to avoid getting stuck with the wrong partner

摘要

There is a plethora of wine yeast strains available for winemakers to choose from. Some are more robust and reliable than others, and different strains will impart different sensory properties to wine; the choice is not always straightforward. Research at theAWRI is beginning to unravel the complexity of grape juice composition and how this impacts on wine yeast performance, in parallel with this, we are also unravelling the complexity of wine yeast genetic diversity. The convergence of these complementary approaches will pave the way for the generation of optimised wine yeast strains and provide a means for more informed choices to be made when winemakers are partnering a grape juice with a wine yeast.