[Sherry wine microorganisms]

Sherry wine presents, during all its wine-making and aging process, a great diversity of yeast and bacteria, as well as in the wine itself; its particular wine-making system, with traditional and legal additions to correct the acidity and to get a final alcoholic content of 15%, originates a selection of accompanying microorganisms. Species of the genera Kloeckera, Candida, Saccharomyces, Pichia, Hansenula and Saccharomycodes, have been isolated during the fermentation process in different proportions. This fact confirms that, besides S. cerevisiae, strains of S. chevalieri and S. fermentati have an important role in the fermentative process, and that the film-forming Saccharomyces have great activity in the fermentation. The biological aging of the Sherry wine, carried out by S. cheresiensis, S. beticus, S. feduchii and S. rouxii, has been studied in "finos" and "manzanillas". Different species and percentages in both wines have been described.