Says the president of the ONAV Scientific Committee Vincenzo Gerbi, full professor at the University of Turin. The National Organization of Wine Tasters takes a position on the Rai Tre broadcast which, for the second time, generalizes on very different topics, creating confusion rather than information. After talking about the products allowed in the production of wine, in the February 18 episode, selected yeasts came under the spotlight as a presumed factor of approval. However, yeast is a tool for enhancing characteristics, not a trick to standardize, and the diversity in wines lies above all in the seeds and skins and therefore starts from the quality of the grapes.
<< The yeasts used in oenology are not the result of strange artifices and are always isolated from the grapes or wine, like all the others. The advantage is the ability to optimize the fermentation process: the varietal yeasts are selected because they are equipped with enzymes that hydrolyse the aromatic glucosides already present in the grapes, therefore enhancing their olfactory characteristics. Generic selected yeasts, always isolated from grapes or wine, are instead capable of optimizing the production of fermentation esters . >> Prof continues. Vincenzo Gerbi . Therefore, there is no risk to health, on the contrary: a good starter must or a selected yeast allow you not to use sulphites, which is currently the subject of great debate.
<< Furthermore, it is not said, in absolute terms, that spontaneous fermentations are better, especially for the oenological result. Pasteur's results on this topic, in fact, led him to the study of microbiology and to the discoveries of modern medicine. If he had been able to do so, he would probably have recommended the use of selected starter musts, as master brewers have always done. >> Concludes Gerbi. If the program emphasized the need for naturalness in the world of wine, in fact, it omitted that in beer, bread, cheeses, all products in which fermentation takes place, the use of selected microorganisms is constant because, otherwise, they could cause health at risk. In wine, acidic and alcoholic, therefore inhospitable to pathogenic bacteria, the only side effect of imperfect fermentations is the alteration of aromas and flavors. This does not mean opposing natural wines, but selecting them and rewarding them only if they are good.
ONAV's hope is that the world of information, especially aimed at the general public, will learn to address scientific issues with a greater sense of responsibility.
