> This means using only organic grapes, picked by hand, and fermenting slowly with wild yeasts from the vineyard (most vintners use lab-grown yeasts, which Riffault says are engineered “like F1 cars, to speed through fermentation”).
This sounds kind of wrong, almost every single plant we are eating has been optimized for our needs over the past ~200 years (citation needed). Cucumber, tomato, strawberry, zucchini, eggplant, avocado, watermelon, carrot and corn, just to name a few, have been engineered "like F1 cars" for each specific demand. So why should it be an issue to use optimized yeasts for wine too?
PS: Probably unambiguous, but I was instantly scared this article is going to be about Wine Is Not an Emulator.
But has it been optimized for taste? Or for the marketplace and maximum profit? You mention the tomato. If you've ever had a fresh heirloom tomato I think you'd agree that they're much more delicious than the "optimized" tomatoes from the local chain supermarket. However, the supermarket tomato is a lot easier to grow and lasts longer in storage and transport. We're just seeing people with the knowledge and money demanding taste and a general cultural shift in that direction (all the artisanal products that have been cropping up). Because in the last 100 years, we've optimized for profit and the global supply chain rather than taste. Nothing wrong with either IMO, it depends on what you want. Delicious tomatoes, or having tomatoes in January.
Specifically regarding yeast though, spontaneously fermented beers have very interesting and IMO delicious flavors going on, but it'd be impossible to make such beers on a Budweiser scale, by definition it's more of an art and not an industrial process.
This sounds kind of wrong, almost every single plant we are eating has been optimized for our needs over the past ~200 years (citation needed). Cucumber, tomato, strawberry, zucchini, eggplant, avocado, watermelon, carrot and corn, just to name a few, have been engineered "like F1 cars" for each specific demand. So why should it be an issue to use optimized yeasts for wine too?
PS: Probably unambiguous, but I was instantly scared this article is going to be about Wine Is Not an Emulator.
https://www.winehq.org/