Native yeasts to safeguard the territory and its quality
The “yeasts and terroirs” project, in collaboration with the renowned research centre Startogen and StarFinn, an academic spin-off of the University of Basilicata, involves the use of a selection of yeast strains taken from the Corvina and Primitivo vines to ferment the grapes.
Scientific research highlighted the potential of native yeasts for quite some time now. In other words, this means favouring yeasts coming from the same winery where the wine is made as opposed to “commercial” yeasts found on the market. The latter are in fact currently only available in a limited range, which risks standardizing the organoleptic characteristics of the final product. Research aims to discover an innovative medium capable of creating a product able to enhance the typical features of wines from Veneto and Puglia.
Starting with the 2018 harvest, grape cluster samples were selected for the isolation of “native” yeasts from Primitivo grapes in Salento then, from September onwards, from Corvina grapes in Valpolicella. After an observation phase, the selected strains were subjected to fermentation on the company wort to evaluate their oenological properties. The yeasts that performed the best were then deposited in a biobank under the Tinazzi name. The last step involved the use of the strains obtained directly in the cellar during the 2019 harvest.