Production and Use of Wine Active Dry Yeast

From the archives of the OIV (Office International de la Vigne et du Vin), 2 articles on the importance of production expertise of different yeast species, how it facilitates their use in winemaking, and why the quality of the ADYs is crucial have resurfaced.

The articles were published in 1983 by Jean-Claude Villettaz, today Danstar Ferment AG’s Managing Director, Kevin Kraus, today Senior Vice President and Special Advisor for Lallemand Inc., and Gerald Reed, former Director of Research for Red Star Yeast.

The paper describes how yeast species S. cerevisiae, S. bayanus and S. fermentati were produced, their composition, stability, number of viable cells and how to rehydrate them before use. The various possibilities of yeast addition and the advantages of active dry yeasts over yeast suspensions are also described. The differences between selected yeast strains as well as between active dry yeast preparations, made from the same yeast strain are discussed in detail. The acceptance of active dry yeasts as well as their importance on the by-then market are also briefly discussed.

It is interesting to know that we are sometimes facing the same issues today, and understanding how wine yeast are produced, how to properly rehydrate them and how it leads to quality, and sanitary sound wines is still à propos in 2021.

The paper was originally published in French in Connaissance de la Vigne et du Vin, which then became Journal International des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin and was replaced by OENO One in 2016. 

We encourage you to read this paper as a case study on our expertise in yeast production and utilization. 

The paper is available in English here: https://www.lallemandwine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/KrausReedVillettaz1983.pdf

​And, in the same spirit, here is a link to another abstract:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335850494_Production_and_Utilisation_of_Yeast_Biomass_for_Wine_Fermentation

The research and our knowledge on wine yeast production have since then continued to evolve greatly.

We’ve just been informed that the book entitled Yeasts in the Production of Wine”, to which we collaborated, was awarded the OIV Award 2021 in the category Oenology.

Anne Ortiz-Julien, R&D Manager Yeast and Nutrients, Zhigeng Zhang, R&D Senior Manager, Forbes Wardrop, Former Research Scientist, and Richard Degré, Senior VP – R&D / Quality Assurance co-authored the chapter dedicated to Wine yeast production.

A great recognition of the long history of Lallemand’s wine yeast production knowledge!