Microbiology plays a crucial role in winemaking. At the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, we have been engaged in microbiological research on grapes and wine for many years, resulting in a substantial number of relevant publications in this field.
During the processing of grapes into wine, four major groups of microorganisms play a key role: non-Saccharomycesyeasts, which originate primarily from the grapes; Saccharomyces yeasts from commercial starter cultures or indigenous mycoflora; lactic acid bacteria (Oenococcus oeni); and wine spoilage yeasts and bacteria.
In the Microbiological Laboratory, we perform microbiological analyses of grapes, mash/must, and wine. Microbiological analyses are conducted for the needs of:
- domestic and foreign research projects,
- diploma, master’s, and doctoral theses,
- external clients: any physical or legal entities
Fields of activity
- Determination of the total concentration of yeast in a must/mash/wine sample according to its physiological state (live, dead, dormant),
- Species and abundance of viable (live) yeasts from the genera Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces, and their impact on the sensory quality of wine,
- Content of yeasts belonging to the genus Dekkera/Brettanomyces (spoilage yeasts) in wines and detection of their metabolites (volatile thiols),
- The impact of sulfur use, vinification process temperatures, addition of selected yeast and bacterial cultures, nutrients, dissolved oxygen levels, and yeast-assimilable nitrogen in the fermentation medium on the microbiological population and quality of the produced wine.
Research equipment
- Cube 6 flow cytometer
- Minifors 2 bioreactors (3x)
- H150-2100LT flow cooler (water chiller)
- MV – LFV 12 protective chamber – laminar flow cabinet
- Memmert incubator – thermostatic cabinet
- WineLab touch enzyme analyzer
- Astell AMB 240 autoclave (Ecofill)
- IKA G-L centrifuge 12 X 1,5/2,0 mL
- Nikon Eclipse 80i light microscope
- MATRIX ORBITAL DELTA PLUS orbital shaker with shaking/incubation function
- Microfil membrane filtration equipment
- EŠKO 7L electronic bacterial colony counter
