Solving yeast jigsaw puzzles over a glass of wine

M ore than 7,000 years ago, when grapes and yeast joined forces for the first time to lift the spirit of humankind, the ancients imbibed with joy, unknowingly celebrating the beginnings of one of the world’s oldest biotechnological processes. The first “magical” juice came from spontaneously fermented grapes cultivated in the Zagros Mountains of Ancient Persia and the Caucasus Mountain Range between the Black and Caspian Seas. The “mystical art” through which sugary, blandtasting grape juice is turned into flavoursome wine with hedonic and preservative properties, quickly spilled over into neighbouring regions of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece and the Mediterranean Basin [1]. ...................................................... “As European seafarers set sail to discover and explore far-off continents, their ships carried both the “fermenting knowledge” of winemaking and the “geminating seeds” of yeast biotechnology.” ......................................................