Wine time: Wild Yeast leads to a wildly complex flavor

(PNJ) - It’s harvest season; vineyard workers and vineyard managers alike are working day and night to get the fruit in from the fields. If you are in the fray, it probably resembles a circus, but from where I sit, it is a beautifully orchestrated performance of man and nature. To me, the best wines are produced when the relationship tends towards the natural. A great example of this is when winemakers utilize the indigenous or wild yeast to ferment their wines.

The use of this wild yeast, instead of the more predictable and controllable inoculated or pre-cultivated yeast strains, while not a new process by any means, is gaining popularity among the winemakers that are trying to take a less-intrusive role in winemaking, such as Kistler, Ridge, Sterling, Chalk Hill and Frog’s Leap. Yeast, while its dominant influence on the wine is the production of alcohol, also produces esters and other compounds, which contribute to the wine’s fruit aromas and tastes. An example of esters and the flavor influence is their use by jelly bean giant Jelly Belly to produce the wide array of flavors for its jelly bean lines. So as you can imagine, the proper use of yeast is as important to wine production as maceration and aging.

Many people don’t realize that fermentation — that is, making alcohol from sugar — can happen naturally in the vineyard. The vine’s goal is to propagate its line. With a grape’s naturally enticing appearance and flavors, birds and animals feast on the berries, digesting the meat, then passing the seeds and depositing them, usually in a different location, along with fertilizer provided by the animal host. Yet, even if the fruit were not eaten, the vine would like to reutilize the sugars and nutrients that were invested in growing the grape to begin with. This is where nature’s plan is truly remarkable.