Yesterday morning NPR featured a short piece by Elizabeth Shogren that related the story of an Italian microbiologist, Duccio Cavalieri, who had elucidated the connection by which insects( in this case a wasp) transfer yeast from their guts onto wine grapes. This "local" yeast then participates in fermenting the wine . Mr. Cavalieri explained that this elementary (and alimentary) interconnectedness can explain some of the centuries old complexity in the wines from Chianti. ( and perhaps a decades worth in Hanna SB)
Shogren went on speak about this connectedness to Ann Pringle, an Evolutionary Biologist at Harvard. In general her concerns related to the unintended consequences of less diversity through species loss, but she was specifically concerned with insecticide sprays used to kill wasps in vineyards and the resultant loss of desirable local yeast in wine fermentations. She need not be.
I can't see the diversity of microflora in our vineyard but the bigger critters are there. I just walked back from shutting of the irrigation in our Home Ranch Chardonnay: A Great Blue Heron, river otter , crayfish, Mulberry, figs, Prickly Pear Cactus, Valley Oaks, willows- all seen in 2 minutes. A little later- when the grapes sweeten, our vineyards are alive with honey bees, wasps and native bees. We have never sprayed anything to kill them. In fact, no winegrower does. The admonishment not to spray , at least in winegrape vineyards, is not necessary.
Ironically, few winemakers seek the the contribution of local yeasts. . Most winemakers prefer to swamp out the native flora with cultured yeast that provides more predictble results. Hanna Sauvignon blanc is an exception- we ferment as much a 50% with native yeasts every year. In 2011 our favorite fermentation tank was native yeast.
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