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Lexicon

The largest wine encyclopedia in the world with 26,725 Terms.

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

malolactic fermentation

Term for the conversion of malic acid into the milder lactic acid (Latin malum = apple, lac = milk), which plays an alternative role in the production of fruit juice, wine and sparkling wine. The process is also known as biological acid degradation (BSA), bacterial malic acid degradation, microbial acid degradation or malolactic acid fermentation. However, this is not a true alcoholic fermentation, but a fermentation in the broader biological sense. Although carbon dioxide is also released during this process, there is no conversion of sugar into alcohol. Around 1890, Dr Hermann Müller-Thurgau (1850-1927), who was working in Geisenheim at the time, correctly suspected bacteria - and not yeasts - as the cause. Dr Wenzel Seifert (1862-1942) was able to identify the acid-degrading bacterium at the Klosterneuburg Viticulture Institute in 1903 and named it "Micrococcus malolacticus".

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Egon Mark

For me, Lexicon from wein.plus is the most comprehensive and best source of information about wine currently available.

Egon Mark
Diplom-Sommelier, Weinakademiker und Weinberater, Volders (Österreich)

The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

26,725 Keywords · 47,094 Synonyms · 5,302 Translations · 32,055 Pronunciations · 245,401 Cross-references
made with ♥ by our author Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer. About the Lexicon

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