Molecular technologies in wine-making

Abstract

Essentially, wine production is a microbiological process where yeasts and bacteria play a decisive role. The microbes are present throughout the winemaking process. For example, Saccharomyces yeast convert grape sugars to ethanol during alcoholic fermentation, while lactic acid bacteria convert malic acid into lactic acid during malolactic fermentation. While some of the microbes are beneficial and enhance wine aroma, others have a negative effect on wine quality, producing various secondary metabolites with undesirable sensory qualities, thus behaving as ‘wine spoilers’. Accurate and timely detection and quantification of wine spoilers during the production process is important to determine the sources of contamination in the wineries and take timely measures to prevent potential damage with minimal economic costs. Traditionally, methods of detection of wine spoilers included plating and colony count. Recently, DNA-based methods of detection and quantification of wine spoilage microorganisms have been developed.