Reduce the Risk of Wine Spoilage
The role of yeast within fermentation is central for the production of fermented alcoholic beverages and specific yeast strains are selected to achieve the desired fermentation, flavor and aroma characteristics in the end product. In addition to this beneficial role, yeasts are also able to cause spoilage to alcoholic beverages both during and after fermentation.
Spoilage yeast growth can affect the chemical composition of the wine, generating off flavors, undesirable aroma or altered appearance. It can also lead to broken bottles due to increasing pressure. Such spoilage can generate high economic losses and impact brand image.
Labor intensive and lengthy investigations after spoilage detection can increase impact of spoilage as origination can come from a wide variety of sources throughout the production process. Long investigations can increase losses as higher volume of spoiled product could be produced or production could be interrupted for a long period of time.
As a result, wineries have implemented microbial monitoring for their finished wines and in-process control at critical points, using a testing program unique to each winery. These programs are mostly based on traditional culture methods. These methods have a limited cost-effectiveness and decision-making value due to their drawbacks.
They are time-consuming, and do not provide an early warning of contamination. These methods display weak sensitivity when even one single spoilage organism can cause full batch damage. Additionally, they are not specific. Further yeast identification is needed to assess contamination sources and plan for effective countermeasures.