Choosing specific yeasts to exalt certain characteristics in wine is much of a common practice now a days. How much better can a specific strain of yeast really make your wine? Reading the descriptions and characteristics that each strain could add to your wine seems they can actually make a difference, and I am sure they do to a certain extent. From working with Jurij I learned that choosing a specific yeast is trivial the grand scheme of things.
Eight hours of harvesting and 60 hectoliters later the stainless steel tank was filled and it was time to brew the yeast at Poggio Podere Scalette. As Jurij began measuring certain quantities of yeast, the first question that came to my mind was, “Why don’t you stick with the natural yeasts that are already present on the grapes?” His answer was,” So I can sleep at night.” Like everything else that Jurij says, his responses are short and to the point. For me, this was the best possible answer that I could have received, and it made perfect sense. He explained to me that “you take chance” when you use natural yeasts. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.
After he explained to me that he doesn’t select specific yeasts for his wines either. For instance, he uses general red wine yeast and white wine yeast even though he makes wine from 3 different varietals: Sangiovese, Merlot and Chardonnay. He told me a story that one year he ran out of the white wine yeast so he used the red wine yeast for his Chardonnay. This made me laugh and he seemed find this amusing too. He believes that it does not matter which yeast you choose. “Yeasts can not bring out qualities which are not already there.”, he said to me. Even though I am not a wine maker, I could not agree with him more. This quote seems to apply to a number of different things, not only wine.
Jurij is also a “take it as it comes” type of guy. He doesn’t push or stop malolactic fermentation in his wine. “If it happens it happens, and if it doesn’t it doesn’t.”, he said. He is the type of wine maker that lets the wine speak for itself, he is there just to see it through.
Facts About Yeast
They are single celled eukaryotes
They are part of the Fungi kindom along with mushrooms and mold
The word “yeast” comes from Old English gist, gyst, and from the Indo-European root yes-, meaning boil, foam, or bubble.
Most yeast reproduce by splitting themselves into two genetically equal parts
Yeasts have 7000-8000 genes, humans have roughly 30,000 and fruit flies have about 27,000 (genes hold the information to make an organism)
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the family of yeasts responsible for turning sugar into alcohol
Jurij is a staunch believer in that great wine comes from the grapes, not from the technology that you have. While technology can make your life easier, it doesn’t add anything to the grapes that isn’t already there. For instance his crusher/destemmer was bought in 1996 and is still working like a champion to this day. As you can see from the picture, he uses wooden wedges to keep the machine in place and he stands on some old palettes so he can pour the grapes into the destemmer. Now that’s classy.
humble, passionate, gentle, funny and sincere person I have ever met. Just being in his presence made me a better and smarter person. He is the type of guy that would just explain what he is doing without you having to ask. As long as he sees that you care and are passionate he will go to extraordinary lengths to give you everything he can.
