Does yeast type affect wine taste..?

Question

I'm new in wine making and I tried to make it with fresh yeast, not dried. I think I'm using a lot of it to help fermentation end faster. Will this affect the taste of wine? Will dries yeast achieve a better taste or not ? Also I want to know if anyone has tried wild yeast fermentation before....wild yeast is present naturally on the grape skin so you don't have to use yeast at all, but it believe it takes a long time to ferment

Answer 1

There are several issues with attempting to ferment with wild yeast. I've not tried it but here are a few things I've heard from people who have.

1. If you get good results, it is unlikely that you can repeat the process. Know what you are getting is a nice feature of prepackaged yeast.
2. The wild yeast may not be alcohol tolerant. i.e. They may die off when the alcohol percent reaches 5% or some low percentage.
3. There are other bacteria living on the skin of the grapes. If you don't kill them off they are likely to produce odd aromas and flavors.

With wine yeast I've found that the the same type of yeast like a Lavin D47 or K1-V1116 provide consistent results.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Yeast type and variety both affect flavor.

I've found with beer-brewing that dry yeasts will produce different flavors from different packets of the same brand of yeast.