WildWine at Vinitaly 2014: The Value in Using Native Yeasts

In the past, juices fermented into wine by way of indigenous microbes that naturally occurred on grapes and in the cellar – wild yeasts. Today, commercial yeasts are used to lower the risk that the juices do not start fermentation, and to maintain the aromas and tastes that the wine maker aims to produce. Natural yeasts are risky. They’re wild. And you can never be completely sure what’s going to come out of barrel.

Lorenzo Giordano, president of the Consorzio Tutela Vini del Asti e del Monferrato, lead Italian partner, introduced the WildWine research project. It aims to use the naturally occurring microbiotic diversity in wild yeasts to produce wines that express terroir perhaps more faithfully than any wine created with commercial yeasts could do. Ultimately, the final objective of the WildWine project is to help small and medium sized wineries to utilize the findings to diversify their production, making innovative wines that are more competitive on the market for being unique, high quality, and sustainable.  

Today, wine dialogue orbits around the expression of terroir, and wineries in Italy are increasingly concerned about sustainability. Using native yeasts boosts biodiversity and the expression of terroir tenfold. 

There is also the concern that the wine-producing European Union is losing ground to New World wines. Italy, and Piemonte in particular, is composed of many small wineries. They lack even the possibility of cultivating such huge swaths of land as seen in California and Australia, for example. Given the correct care and practices, any winemaking area or winery can produce high quality wine. A winery’s strongest point of competition, therefore, is its ability to express a totally unique terroir.

The University of Torino, 2 ½ years into their projected 3-year WildWine research, have chosen about 50 naturally occurring yeasts to produce wine from Barbera grapes from 15 vineyards in the Asti and Monferrato zone. Of the 50 yeasts, about 20-25 produced very good wine; and from those they will narrow down their final selection to around 10.

Professor Vincenzo Gerbi explained that they tested many different wild yeasts because of their unpredictability. The alcohol content is difficult to guide, and even starting the fermentation process can be a toss of the dice, among other factors. In the beginning, he says, they believed that yeasts accounted for about 30% of the wine’s taste and aroma characteristics. Two and one half years into their study, they revised this idea. Now they believe that as much as 50% of the wine is dependent on what type of yeast is used.

The professors then conducted a wine tasting with three different “wild wines.” Each one was a Barbera d’Asti produced in a controlled environment, where only the type of wild yeast used was changed. While not yet ready for bottling, the differences were incredible: in the color, taste, and most noticeably in the aroma. 

Professor Luca Cocolin says the potential for utilizing diverse microbes lies in which naturally occurring yeasts the producers choose to use. There is quite a large selection to meet their desire for expressing terroir with the maximum quality, while respecting the biodiversity of their land and promoting sustainability. 

The final results of the WildWine research will be used to help not just Italy, but also the wine-producing countries France, Spain, and Greece to be more competitive in the global wine market through unique expression of terroir, and promotion of sustainability through greater biodiversity. 

Read more about the WildWine research project on their official website, www.wildwine.eu