Fermentation (wine) - History

History

The natural occurrence of fermentation means it was probably first observed long ago by humans. The earliest uses of the word "Fermentation" in relation to winemaking was in reference to the apparent "boiling" within the must that came from the anaerobic reaction of the yeast to the sugars in the grape juice and the release of carbon dioxide. The Latin fervere means, literally, to boil. In the mid-19th century, Louis Pasteur noted the connection between yeast and the process of the fermentation in which the yeast act as catalyst and mediator through a series of a reaction that convert sugar into alcohol. The discovery of the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway by Gustav Embden, Otto Fritz Meyerhof and Jakub Karol Parnas in the early 20th century contributed more to the understanding of the complex chemical processes involved in the conversion of sugar to alcohol.