Red thiols in wine, what do we talk about?

Research has highlighted the ability of red grape varieties to release thiols. Extracting them produces fresher, fruitier wines.
While many of us associate volatile thiols with Sauvignon Blanc, Mansengs, Riesling and Colombard, far fewer of us associate them with red wines.
Yet thiol precursors are much more widespread in red grape varieties than you might think.

Wine yeasts play a key role in the release of thiols.

Choosing a thiol-revealing yeast with an IRC7 gene that is long on both alleles, as well as the original (non-mutated) form of this gene, will enable these precursors to be released enzymatically via beta-lyase activity.

Only 3% of wine yeasts possess both of these characteristics. RUBY™ is one of them: it is the first wine yeast specifically selected to optimise thiols in red wines.

To find out more about RUBY™, visit its dedicated page.