If you want good wine you better know your yeast.

We all know that yeast are important to the fermentation process of alcohol, but what else do they contribute to the drink?

A single species, Dekkera bruxellensis, is responsible for the identifying aroma of near half of the red wines, and is of course an important part of the flavor as well.

 Dekkera bruxellensis

There can be a downside to this yeast though, D. bruxellensis also produces a phenol which can make your wine taste like medicine and lead it it becoming undrinkable.

But this detrimentous event can be avoided to some extent by learning the ins and outs of D. bruxellensis. Researchers at the Lund University in Sweden have worked alongside the Centre of Genomic Regulation in Spain have now sequenced the yeast's genome.

The genome of wine yeast Dekkera bruxellensis provides a tool to explore its food-related properties.
 Mind you this is the abstract, the full texts costs. but here is the ScienceDaily article related to it.
Knowing Yeast Genome Produces Better Wine

According to Professor Jure Piskur of the Department of Biology at Lund University, “We now know a lot about how Dekkera bruxellensis acts in the aroma formation process during wine production. Wine producers can use this knowledge to their advantage.”
And, "At the end of the day this could lead to more new and interesting wine tastes and greater financial savings for the wine industry."

So, next time you open a bottle, be it corked or capped, remember that it is the work of these researchers that helps insure you taste wine and not cough syrup.

Reference work: Piskur J, Zhihao L, Marcet-Houben M, Ishchuk OP, Aerts A, LaButti K, Copeland A, Lindquist E, Barry K, Compagno C, Bisson L, Grigoriev IV, Gabaldón T, and Phister T. “The genome of wine yeast Dekkera bruxellensis provides a tool to explore its food-related properties” International Journal of Food Microbiology (2012)