Flor

or flor yeasts

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

flor or flor yeasts, are benevolent film-forming yeasts which are able to form a veil, velum, or film of yeast cells which floats on the surface of a wine. Flor yeasts are typified by those native to the jerez region of southern Spain which produce Fino and Manzanilla sherry. These yeasts have been assigned many names by different microbiologists over the years, including Saccharomyces bayanus, S. beticus, S. capensis, S. cheriensis, S. fermentati, S. montuliensis, and S. rouxii. However, they are now considered to be synonyms of S. cerevisiae.