A Basidiomycete Fungus Responsible for Fresh Mushroom Off-Flavour in Wines: Crustomyces subabruptus, (Bourdot & Galzin) Jülich 1978

Grape rot can cause organoleptic deviations in wines, including the aroma of fresh mushrooms; one of the molecules responsible for this is 1-octen-3-one. The bunches affected by this defect are often contaminated by Botrytis cinerea; however, they may also contain a whitish mycelium that cannot be attributed to B. cinerea. This additional fungal growth is the subject of this study. Several isolations of this fungus were carried out on grape bunches from different vineyards in the French Alsace and Champagne regions using a culture medium containing an anti-Botrytis fungicide (Boscalid). The sequencing of the ITS regions showed that most isolations corresponded to Crustomyces subabruptus (Bourdot & Galzin; Jülich 1978), an endophyte basidiomycete. Contamination tests carried out on bunches and grape juice with this fungus confirmed its responsibility for the appearance of fresh mushroom defects in wines, and showed that it has the capacity to produce large quantities of 1-octen-3-one in a wet and warm environment. The results of this study suggest that this basidiomycete is responsible for fresh mushroom aromas in wines.