Scientists are only now trying to get specific about which microbes are most important in various drinks. In the musts of Napa Chardonnay they find the families Firmicutes and Eurotiomycetes (that latter includes Aspergillus and Penicillium fungi). But in California’s Central Coast winemaking region it’s Bacteroides, Actinobacteria, Saccharomycetes, and Erysiphe necator. Back up to Sonoma and you get B. fuckeliana and Proteobacteria. And other grapes have entirely other colonizers, each contributing in ways as yet unknown to the final flavor. The researchers who parsed all that call it
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