Grants and Contributions:

Back to search

Title:

Vineyard and winery yeast contribution in spontaneous fermentations of chardonnay must at_x000D_ tinhorn creek vineyard

Agreement Number:

EGP

Agreement Value:

$25,000.00

Agreement Date:

Dec 13, 2017 -

Organization:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Location:

British Columbia, CA

Reference Number:

GC-2017-Q3-00528

Agreement Type:

Grant

Report Type:

Grants and Contributions

Additional Information:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Recipient's Legal Name:

Durall, Daniel (The University of British Columbia)

Program:

Engage Grants for universities

Program Purpose:

Non-Saccharomyces, Saccharomyces spp. other than Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and S. cerevisiae are threex000D
groups of yeasts that are involved in winemaking. Based on results from previous Engage and CRD grants, wex000D
found that spontaneous fermentations, conducted in the Okanagan, are completed primarily by commercial S.x000D
cerevisiae strains that the winery has used as an inoculant. In 2015, our group studied Chardonnayx000D
fermentations and we surprisingly found that Saccharomyces uvarum, a cryotolerant Saccharomyces yeast, wasx000D
able to dominate and complete fermentations that were started at 12C. Both S. uvarum and S. cerevisiaex000D
tolerate relatively high SO2 and alcohol concentrations, but S. uvarum can also affect the wine aroma andx000D
flavour differently than S. cerevisiae. We do not know whether the identification of S. uvarum from the 2015x000D
vintage was an anomaly or whether it will be a consistent trend associated with the Mission Hill Family Estatex000D
Winery (MH) or if this trend occurs at other wineries that harvest their grapes in a similar area as does MH. Wex000D
will be repeating the spontaneous fermentations at MH in the 2017 vintage using Chardonnay grapes. Forx000D
comparison purposes, we will conduct the identical experiment at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards (TCV). Thus, thex000D
objectives of this proposal are to: 1) develop a research partnership between UBC Okanagan and TCV; 2) tox000D
compare the Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeast composition of lab and winery fermentations so asx000D
to determine whether the origin of yeasts were from the vineyard, winery or from both; 3) to compare the yeastx000D
composition in fermentations that differ by having grapes sourced from different vineyards (one close and onex000D
far away from the winery). Our results will provide information to TCV winemakers, helping them in theirx000D
selection and management of yeasts, which will help them improve wine quality and reduce costs. Since TCVx000D
will continue to conduct spontaneous fermentations in their Chardonnay varietals and will continue sourcingx000D
Chardonnay grapes from these two vineyards, knowing the yeast in these fermentation treatments will helpx000D
them in their management decisions.