Yeasts are used to manipulate flavour; myth or reality?

Nothing that I have read here convinces me that this statement in the middle of her article is a serious exaggeration -

"Like many observers of the wine scene I have been dimly aware of how the wines of the world are starting to taste much more similar, despite the fact that they come from a wider range of geographical sources than ever before. I strongly suspect that the widespread use of a relatively narrow range of commercial yeasts has accentuated this phenomenon."

In the context of what has been said here, that's the para I find most difficult to believe.

That is, I don't believe most currently available commercial yeasts have such a large impact on flavour. Homogenisation of flavours is much more to do with proiducers across the world aiming at lowest comon denominator taste - soft fruit, little tannin and acid, maybe a smidge of RS. Natural yeast floras may impart lots of different flavours, but I am not convinced that they are asssociated with regional styles. Maybe the styles of some specific producers though, whose premises and vineyards provide hosts for them.

Homogenisation of flavours is much more to do with proiducers across the world aiming at lowest comon denominator taste - soft fruit, little tannin and acid, maybe a smidge of RS. Natural yeast floras may impart lots of different flavours, but I am not convinced that they are asssociated with regional styles. Maybe the styles of some specific producers though, whose premises and vineyards provide hosts for them.

I agree with most of that. But Jancis only says "accentuates" here, which is not a very big claim.

I agree with most of that. But Jancis only says "accentuates" here, which is not a very big claim.

Hmm, well OK. But if we place too much emphasis on such words the assertion can become so watered down as to be not worth making. Anyway I hope Jancis responds.

Nothing that I have read here convinces me that this statement in the middle of her article is a serious exaggeration -
"Like many observers of the wine scene I have been dimly aware of how the wines of the world are starting to taste much more similar, despite the fact that they come from a wider range of geographical sources than ever before. I strongly suspect that the widespread use of a relatively narrow range of commercial yeasts has accentuated this phenomenon."
However, her final paragraph is well over the top -
"So, there you have it. Remember that your next glass of wine may owe its character to something unacknowledged that can be every bit as influential as the grapes.".

Tim,
The first JT Robinson quote may not be a serious exageration and probably is true...but it indicates more to me that Jancis is not very careful in her selection of what she's drinking. I've been trying more & more SouthernItaly wines as more wineries are upgrading their quality. I'll find some that are made in what are called the "international style" where the origins are obliterated by new oak, whatever. And some that walk that fine line of showing their teroir but still speaking of more modern/clean winemaking and avoiding the goat pen/hot-climate/dirty/bretty wines of the past. But you don't have to search very hard to find loads of wines that speak of their origins and are not international in style.
And, of course, her second statement is just out&out looney. She give waaay to much credit to the yeasts for the growth of international wines in style.
Tom

But you don't have to search very hard to find loads of wines that speak of their origins and are not international in style.

Tom, happily what you say here is still true. Indeed I wonder if it is not more true in the middle price range where I buy (lots of QPR with character in the Loire and Rhône, for example) than in the commercial mass market, of course, and also amongst pricey trophy and near trophy wines.

Bordeaux has definitely become oakier since I started drinking it some 50 years ago and this, combined with the quest for super-ripe fruit, micro-oxygenation, etc., leads a lot of it (white Burgundy also) towards acquiring a Californian accent. I don't know if cultivated yeasts play a part in Bordeaux (the Rolland recipe) but the homogenization trend is definitely alive there.

I think Robinson was trying to draw wine drinkers attention to the fact that factors other than fruit quality make an important difference to the taste of wine, and in this I think she's right. I once tasted batch of Syrah that had been divided into four parts and fermented with four different yeasts, and the wines were distinctly different. (I don't know if that difference would have been evident after a few years in bottle.)

I once tasted with a classic producer of Sancerre and asked him what kind of yeast he used; he insisted on native fermentations, and he said that the producers who were using commercial yeasts were making wines that were too similar to each other.

Thanks, Mike. That's a sweet search engine. I had no idea it could be used for wine-related research. Also, upon re-reading my earlier post, I think my tone comes across as snarky and I did not mean it to. It's just that I feel there is a Chicken Little reaction in the media to these reports from scientists who are studying what causes a wine aroma to be the way it is, so that they can then create GMO yeasts (see Sweiger's #7, so I assume that is what he was attempting?) that might possibly, someday, be used to create amplified aromas through ester management in a somewhat predictable and consistent manner in real life. Maybe. Someday. If they can get winemakers to agree on what aromas they want (:roll: ) so they can then invest money in production of those GMO yeasts. If they will even be legal in most countries, and if they can find a consumer base in wine production willing to be associated with them. And somehow, out of all that iffi-ness, Robinson and others have found a scapegoat for their present boring wine experiences, blaming them on currently existing yeasts, of which there are dozens, all harvested from nature. And many, if not most, producers use different yeasts on their different varieties, and frequently on different vineyard lots, and frequently blend them together along with native yeast fermentations for complexity--so the resulting wines are a yeast soup just like ye wines of auld except without the brett, toxins and bacterial infections which never improved any wine no matter what its pedigree. Just trying to see where the media prophets are coming from on this issue is making my brain tired. One positive thing I have learned from all this is that it shouldn't be difficult to start a rumor that new oak causes cancer.

Mary,

PubMed is really more orientated to the biomedical area, although not restricted to it. I used it to search for publications by Sweiger because some of his stuff has appeared in journals on microbiology. I was surprised how many publication I was able to find. There are other literature databases like Agricola and Biological Abstracts that would probably be better for wine related publications but I'm not sure if they are available to the public. They would certainly be available at any good university library.

I have not read any of his work but I would imagine that Sweiger is thinking in terms of genetic modification of yeast. How successful that will be is anyones' guess.

Mike