Red grape varieties can release thiols, as evidenced by various studies.
Their extraction results in wines with fresher, fruitier profiles.
Many of us associate volatile thiols with sauvignon blanc, manseng, riesling or colombard. Fewer of us associate them with red wine.
Yet thiol precursors are much more frequent in red varietals than could be expected.
Wine yeast play a key role to release thiols.
One must choose a thiol-revealing yeast, possessing a long IRC7 gene on both alleles, as well as the original (non-mutated) form of this gene to be able to release the precursors through beta-lyase enzyme activity.
Only 3% of all wine yeasts possess these 2 features. RUBY™ is one of them and is the first wine yeast specifically selected to release red thiols in red wines. Find out more about RUBY™ and visit its dedicated landing page.
Read this excellent article published in Réussir Vigne in April 2024 to learn more about this topic.
Published Jun 17, 2024
Aromas thiolsWine Yeast