Brett: when sanitation meets wine style.

Ah, Brettanomyces (aka "Brett"), the spoilage organism that's also a flavor enhancer. Or perhaps the flavor enhancer that's also a spoilage organism. Smoke and spice, Band-Aids and saddle sweat, a little complexity or a lot of infection. Judging from the number of conferences and technical seminars

The hardiness of Brettanomyces and of the controversy that surrounds it were both in evidence at the recent full-day Brett symposium held in conjunction with the meetings of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) in San Diego in June. The ASEV session pulled together researchers from Portugal, Switzerland, Australia, Cornell, UC Davis and wine industry consulting firms for presentations on genetic and physiological diversity among Brettanomyces strains, detection and identification, control strategies and the complex sensory calculus of Brett-influenced wines. The rogue yeast symposium was a hot ticket, with the hands-on--or rather, nose- and palate-on--sections providing particularly strong stuff.

The love/hate relationship Brett inspires was obvious in the acknowledgements: Many thanks were given for research assistance and for sample wines to "wineries that shall remain nameless."

The opening speakers emphasized that Brettanomyces is ubiquitous and resourceful. It is found all over the wine world, living happily not only in barrels but in tanks, hoses and just about anything that comes in contact with water. It shows great ingenuity in locating sources of fuel (mostly sugars). It can bloom unexpectedly after periods of relative dormancy; it can persist for long periods of time in a kind of zombie state--"viable but not culturable"--and then come back to haunt.

Plus, Brettanomyces isn't an "it," it's a "them." Five species of Brettanomyces have been identified, though only one--B. bruxellensis--is a major concern in winemaking. It can exist in two modes: good old normal Brettanomyces and the sexual, spore-forming type called Dekkera. The closer researchers look, the more sub-strains they find; the major collections now hold dozens of distinct variants. Brett has a strong capacity to adapt to changing environments and morph into new strains that differ significantly in what they like to eat, what level of alcohol and pH they're comfortable with, and how well they resist sulfites.