AWRI Wine Microorganism Culture Collection
Background
A major role of the AWRI Wine Microorganism Culture Collection (AWMCC) is to maintain a world-class repository of diverse, wine-relevant strains of yeast and bacteria that can be readily accessed by Australian wine producers and for research purposes. The collection, containing over 1,800 strains, has been built over decades with inputs from Australian wineries, microbial strain development programs at the AWRI, and by sourcing reference strains from other culture collections. The AWMCC is a very valuable resource to Australian wine producers, and is mined by the AWRI to isolate yeast strains that have novel characteristics of importance to winemakers.
Progress
As an example, within the AWMCC, there are 11 experimental yeast strains that, over recent years, have been available to Australian winemakers to perform commercial-scale fermentation trials. Information received from these trials augments the AWRI knowledge base and helps to develop a detailed overview on the potential of these yeast strains for commercial release to the broader wine sector. Five of these experimental yeast strains are now commercially available through yeast supply companies.
Most yeast and bacterial strains in the collection will be provided on request to Australian wineries, research institutions in Australia and overseas, Australian teaching institutions and commercial companies. All strains are provided as live cultures on agar slopes. Provision of all cultures, except experimental strains, incurs a modest fee to cover costs of materials. Yeast and bacterial strains can also be deposited into the AWRI collection; and one large Australian winery has recently deposited their entire yeast and bacterial collections into the AWMCC.
Highlights
- Over 1800 yeast and bacteria strains include reference strains, winery isolates and research and experimental strains.
- Winery yeast and bacteria strains can be stored in the collection
Project leader: Dr Eveline Bartowsky
Project team members: