Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Nda21, the Sicilian yeast published on Plos One

It was published in one of the most important scientific journals in the world. Nda21, the Sicilian yeast selected and isolated by the Institute of Vine and Wine (now Irvos), ended up on the secure pages of Plos One, a magazine dedicated to biology. The published study can be consulted here link.

A goal that is worth double because it sees a Sicilian public body achieving it. After the Sicilian yeast conquered the French enough to be bought by Bio Springer of the Lesaffre group, a multinational that produces nutritional yeasts, and to have landed on international markets, the conquest of the publication was therefore more than deserved.

The study project on the population of indigenous yeasts started in 2002 and was followed by a team of nine researchers coordinated by Daniele Oliva, biologist of the Institute coordinating the biotechnology operational unit, with the collaboration of the Universities of Catania and Messina. The NDA 21 was traced in a habitat that can now be said to be at risk of extinction, in the millstone, the fulcrum of the agricultural culture of the past, an ideal place for spontaneous fermentations.

The geographical area of origin is the heart of wine Sicily, where Nero d'Avola originates, in the triangle Rosolini, Ispica and Pachino. In these structures the yeast was formed following crosses and selections of families that have always populated those environments, resulting in the best in winemaking, due to its exceptional resistance, so much so that it is one of the very few capable of avoiding the blocking of the fermentation, a problem feared by many wine producers. But this is not the only quality of this yeast. Another characterizes it and is the fundamental one that guarantees the wine its territorial identity. The Nda21 is in fact capable of maximizing the aroma of the fruit.

“We are satisfied with the publication. The credit goes to the Institute which fully financed the project. A sign that the resources invested in research are bearing fruit – comments Daniele Oliva -. This is the conclusion of a journey that has given us great results. We have demonstrated, through the selection of this yeast, the centrality of the territory which unfortunately, due to strict health regulations, is a variable at risk. In light of these qualitative goals, as demonstrated by the companies that use the NDA21, we ask that exemptions be made. Safeguarding the environment of the millstones is central to the identity of Sicilian wine and to the biodiversity in general which makes the wine itself rich. The publication further proved us right."  

Irvos researchers are currently monitoring two other yeasts on an experimental basis at some Sicilian wineries, they are the B2-48 for the vinification of reds, the A4-9 for the whites and the A1-27 for the classic method, always belonging to the same group as NDA21.