Inhaltszusammenfassung

Archaeology, genetics, ancient literature studies (Epic of Gilgamesh, ca. 2000 BC), paleobotany and linguistics point to the Neolithic period (ca. 8000 BC) as the time when domestic grape growing (Vitis vinifera vinifera) and large wine making began most probably in Transcaucasia (P. E. McGovern, 2003). For ages wine has been an essential part of gracious, cultural and religious way of life. Starting from the heartlands of Middle East the winemaking techniques have been empirically improved s...Archaeology, genetics, ancient literature studies (Epic of Gilgamesh, ca. 2000 BC), paleobotany and linguistics point to the Neolithic period (ca. 8000 BC) as the time when domestic grape growing (Vitis vinifera vinifera) and large wine making began most probably in Transcaucasia (P. E. McGovern, 2003). For ages wine has been an essential part of gracious, cultural and religious way of life. Starting from the heartlands of Middle East the winemaking techniques have been empirically improved since neolithic times opening out into experimental and scientific viticulture and oenology in our days. Despite these long traditions in wine making it was not before 1857, when significant contributions of Louis Pasteur on alcoholic and lactic acid fermentation as well as on acetic acid formation proved that the conversion of grape juice into wine was a microbiological and not a purely chemical process. Up to now a bounteousness of knowledge about wine making techniques and procedures have been accumulated, which was already compiled in several books about wine microbiology, biotechnology, and laboratory practices. Especially, in the last two decades our knowledge about the role of microbes and their application as starter culture has been largely increased. Therefore, the goal of this book is to focus on the ecological and biological aspects of the wine-associated microbiota starting from grape colonizing to wine spoiling microbes. Purely technical aspects of winemaking are not a subject of this publication. Growth in the must and wine habitat is limited by low pH values and high ethanol concentrations. Therefore, only acid and ethanol tolerant microbial groups can grow in grape juice, must and wine, which include lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria, yeasts and fungi. The most important species for wine-making are Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Oenococcus oeni, which perform the ethanol and malolactic fermentation, respectively. These two species are also applied as starter cultures. However, the diverse other microorganisms growing on grapes and must have a significant influence on the wine quality. The chapters start with the description of the diversity of wine-related microorganisms followed by an outline of their primary and energy metabolism. Subsequently, important aspects of the secondary metabolism are dealt with, since these activities have an impact on wine quality and off-flavour formation. Then chapters about stimulating and inhibitory growth factors follow. This knowledge is helpful for the growth management of different microbial species. During the last twenty years large developments have been made in the application of the consolidated findings of molecular biology for the rapid and real-time identification of certain species in mixed microbial population of must. Basic knowledge was acquired about the functioning of regulatory cellular networks leading to a better understanding of the phenotypic behaviour of the microbes in general and especially of the starter cultures as well as of stimulatory and inhibitory cell-cell interactions during winemaking. In the last part of the book a compilation of some modern methods round off the chapters. This broad range of topics about the biology of microbes involved in the vinification process could only be provided in one book due to the input of many experts from different wine-growing countries. » weiterlesen» einklappen

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DDC Sachgruppe:
Allgemeines, Wissenschaft