I was reading a blog when I came across an interesting fact: wasps (the insects) play a key role in wine making. I had previously just thought they were annoying bee lookalikes who stung me in the muggy Augusts of my childhood. Alas, how wrong I was! It turns out that one of the main yeasts used for wine making is saccharomyces cerevisiae, which grows naturally on grapes. The fungus which lends the wine much of its flavor, dies off each winter. The fungus however, relies on wasps for preservation.
The adult wasps ingest the fungus before it dies off, then return to their nests to share masticated fungus with their larvae, thus ensuring that both the adult wasps and larvae have the fungus within them. The larvae and any surviving adult wasps then return to the grapes as the grapes begin to grow again in the spring, and the fungus is passed back to the grapes, allowing the wine to get its delicious flavor.
Source: https://www.celebrationswineclub.com/little-known-wine-tidbits/
The adult wasps ingest the fungus before it dies off, then return to their nests to share masticated fungus with their larvae, thus ensuring that both the adult wasps and larvae have the fungus within them. The larvae and any surviving adult wasps then return to the grapes as the grapes begin to grow again in the spring, and the fungus is passed back to the grapes, allowing the wine to get its delicious flavor.
Source: https://www.celebrationswineclub.com/little-known-wine-tidbits/
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