Abstract
The flavors of fermented plant foods and beverages are formed by microorganisms, and in the case of wine, the location and environmental features of the vineyard site also imprint the wine with distinctive aromas and flavors. Microbial growth and metabolism play an integral role in wine production, by influencing grapevine health, wine fermentation, and the flavor, aroma, and quality of finished wines. The contributions by which microbial distribution patterns drive wine metabolites are unclear, and while flavor has been correlated with fungal and bacterial composition for wine, bacterial activity provides fewer sensorially active biochemical conversions than fungi in wine fermentation. Here, we collected samples across six distinct wine-growing areas in southern Australia to investigate regional distribution patterns of fungi and bacteria and the association with wine chemical composition. Results show that both soil and must microbiota distinguish wine-growing regions. We found a relationship between microbial and wine metabolic profiles under different environmental conditions, in particular measures of soil properties and weather. Fungal communities are associated with wine regional distinctiveness. We found that the soil microbiome is a source of grape- and must-associated fungi and suggest that weather and soil could influence wine characteristics via the soil fungal community. Our report describes a comprehensive scenario of wine microbial biogeography where microbial diversity responds to the surrounding environment and correlates with wine composition and regional characteristics. These findings provide perspectives for thoughtful human practices to optimize food composition through understanding fungal activity and abundance.IMPORTANCE The composition of soil has long been thought to provide wine with characteristic regional flavors. Here, we show that for vineyards in southern Australia, the soil fungal communities are of primary importance for the aromas found in wines. We propose a mechanism by which fungi can move from the soil through the vine.
Highlights
IMPORTANCE The composition of soil has long been thought to provide wine with characteristic regional flavors
Using nextgeneration sequencing (NGS) to profile bacterial and fungal communities, we demonstrate that the soil and must microbiota exhibit distinctive regional patterns and that this correlates to the wine metabolome
In wines of 2017 vintage, ␣-diversity varied with regional origins, with higher Shannon indices observed for the wines from regions of Mornington, Yarra Valley, and Gippsland (H ϭ 2.17 Ϯ 0.05) than for those from other regions (H ϭ 1.94 Ϯ 0.03) (Fig. 1A)
Summary
IMPORTANCE The composition of soil has long been thought to provide wine with characteristic regional flavors. The composition and structure of vineyard soil have long been believed to be of great importance in determining wine characteristics and flavor. Soil microbes can mineralize soil organic matter and trigger plant defense mechanisms and influence the flavor and quality of grapes and final wines [22, 23]. Soil was previously suggested to be a potential source reservoir of grapevine-associated microbiota [15, 24] and some of soil microbes can influence fermentation and contribute to final wine characteristics [8, 24]. Vineyard microbes enter the winery in association with grapes or must, so the effects of environmental conditions are reflected on microbial consortia in wine fermentation. How environmental conditions modulate microbial ecology from the vineyard to the winery and shape regional distinctiveness of wine is still largely unknown
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