By: Nathan Campos
It has always been said that vineyard location plays a
big role in the terrior, or characteristics, of any fine wine. According to researchers from the University
of Auckland in New Zealand, there is some truth to the speculation. After isolating the six major strains of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae found in New Zealand’s six wine-producing regions,
researchers individually inoculated the 36 strains into sterilized samples of
Sauvignon Blanc grape juice in order to induce fermentation. Each wine sample was tested for the presence
and levels of 39 specific compounds, as well as the amount of ethanol, sugar,
and acidity. While there was an overlap
in the chemical signatures of the wines, there were much closer similarities
observed in the yeast strains of wines found in the same region. Interestingly enough, the wines produced in the Nelson region of New Zealand all displayed high concentrations of compounds that have generally been known to bestow an apple or sweet fruit aroma and taste to the wine. The implications of the experiment are
significant; theoretically, scientists could manipulate strains of yeast in conjunction with other terrior-affecting factors, and can create the
perfect wine regardless of the wine’s age.
S. Knight et al., “Regional microbial signatures
positively correlate with differential wine phenotypes: evidence for a
microbial aspect to terroir,” Scientific Reports, 5:14233,
doi:10.1038/srep14233, 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment