Brettanomyces Research and Cellar Control
Brettanomyces continues to be a concern during wine production despite our best efforts to prevent it. In this session Dr. Curtin and Dr. Osborne will present some of their latest research on Brettanomyces including strain diversity and sulfite tolerance, potential sources of Brettanomyces infection, and improved methods of control. Karl Weichold, winemaker for Stoller Wine group, will round the session out with an overview of how he approaches Brettanomyces monitoring and control in the cellar.
Speakers Bios
James Osborne is Professor and Enology Extension Specialist in the Food Science and Technology Department at Oregon State University and a member of the Oregon Wine Research Institute. He received his PhD from Washington State University in 2005 researching interactions between wine yeast and bacteria after which he spent time in his native New Zealand working at the University of Auckland. His research focuses on the impact of wine lactic acid bacteria, Brettanomyces, and non-Saccharomyces yeast on wine quality. James provides outreach programs for the Oregon wine industry such as technical workshops and seminars to aid in the transfer of relevant research results to winery application. In addition, James teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in support of the enology and viticulture program at Oregon State University.
Karl Weichold has nearly a decade and a half of winemaking and enology experience across a wide spectrum of production scales. He graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in biochemistry and genetics in 2006. Karl began his career in wine working with several wineries in the Texas Hill Country before pursuing winemaking opportunities in Oregon. After working with 12th and Maple Wine Company as lab manager, and Erath Winery as assistant winemaker he joined Stoller Wine Group in 2020. He has since been instrumental in Stoller’s pursuit of crafting fine Oregon wines and growing its portfolio, including participating in the creation and implementation of novel approaches to winemaking across different modes of production.
Bill Snyder is a Portland-based winemaker, lab/QA consultant, and wine educator. His wine industry journey has taken him from the Central Coast of California to Australia to the Pacific Northwest. Until relocating to Oregon in the Spring of 2022, Bill was the Winemaking Instructor for the Associates Degree program at Northwest Wine Academy at South Seattle College in West Seattle. Bill has recently provided services to Rising Wines Collective, InnoVint, and Twill Cellars. Bill has also recently launched his own label, Decision Hill Wines, focusing on white and rosé wines from the Willamette Valley and Columbia Gorge.
Dr. Chris Curtin is an expert in fermentation microbiology, particularly the impact of yeasts on fermented beverage flavor. Prior to joining Oregon State University in 2016, Curtin led biosciences research at the Australian Wine Research Institute, where he was responsible for development of novel yeast strains and strategies to mitigate spoilage by Brettanomyces yeasts. Since joining OSU, Curtin’s laboratory uses ‘omics tools to better understand the role of yeasts and bacteria in a range of fermented beverages, such as wine, beer and kombucha.
