OSMOTOLERANT YEASTS ISOLATED FROM TOKAJ WINES

Yeasts growing in ''Tokaj Aszu'' wine and in ''Aszu essence'' were iso lated and characterised. They proved to be physiological races of Sacc haromyces cerevisiae and showed high osmotolerance, which was an inher ited feature rather than the result of adaptation. No correlations wer e found between the osmotolerance and the ethanol tolerance or the cel l size and morphology. Yeasts in ''Aszu essence'' are usually undesira ble contaminants that impair the quality of the essence. The isolate c haracterized in this work exhibited physiological parameters very simi lar to those of the ''Tokaj Aszu'' strain, which make it a potent comp etitor of other yeasts in Aszu fermentation. However, the high termo s ensitivity of its cells offers a possibility to eliminate them selecti vely.