Inhibition of bacterial growth and malolactic fermentation in wine by bacteriophage

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Abstract
Bacteriophage present in wine can attack bacterial starter cultures and inhibit the malolactic fermentation. The possibility of starter culture failure due to phage attack was studied in a commercial dry red wine of pH 3·23, inoculated with a multiple strain starter culture. During two stages of malolactic fermentation, bacterial growth and malate degradation in the wine were inhibited. A phage capable of lysing isolates of Leuconostoc oenos was isolated from the wine. The isolated phage had an icosahedral head of 42–45 nm diameter and a flexible, regularly cross‐striated tail 197–207 nm long with a small baseplate. The results confirm that phage can attack bacterial starter cultures in wine at low pH.

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