FERMENTATION VERSUS BIOTECH

Primary fermentation of peaches grown organically in Southern California

When Nature Expresses Itself — and When Technology Steps In

By Rachel Binder, Certified Natural Perfumer and Sommelier

Fermentation is responsible for some of the world’s greatest tastes and smells: from croissants to chocolate to coffee and wine, we have fermentation to thank for their aromatic development. In perfume, the tradition of cold-soak fermentation of oud chips has also been passed down through the generations in Bengal. 

Ancient perfume has been credited with being made in a vinegar base, but flower wine was much more common and more likely used as a perfume base, most notably in blue lotus Egyptian wine. What is certain is that fermentation has accompanied human beings in the transformation and preservation of aromatic materials for thousands of years.

​Fermentation is the absolute expression of terroir, created with the very wild native yeast in the air, the perfect signature of place; this kind of biochemical alchemy has long been regarded as sacred across traditions. It contains the spark of life, and many believe that the story of the transubstantiation of Jesus as the alchemical transformation from grapes to wine is magical and profound. 

At Small Vines Winery in Sonoma during pinot noir harvest.

Finally, from an aromatic standpoint, fermentation when still liquid like in wine, creates something called a phenolic matrix. Terpenes, tannins, anthocyanins, volatile and non-volatile organic compounds express aroma through this matrix. While perfume pays little attention to the non-VOCs, they play an important part in the aromatic expression of wine or wine-based perfume. Part of the value of applying this for wine-based perfume is that it makes materials like organic saffron or local flowers more bioavailable and easier for the chemically sensitive, creating a truly "functional fragrance".
For natural perfumery we are seeing the rise of synthetic materials made with the application of fermentation and people labeling them as natural. But they exist outside of the phenolic matrix, aka the chemical structure of wine.
Citric acid is often added to mass produced food products or grocery store wines, or even sometimes to save a wine after a less than perfect harvest. It is created through a microbial process, but lacks the finesse of natural citric acid, or "racy acidity" we taste and smell in Chablis or in a Meyer lemon.
Lab fermentation used by major ingredient companies can similarly be designed to produce specific aroma molecules. This is fundamentally different from allowing a whole flower, fruit or other botanical material to undergo spontaneous fermentation and the complex aromatic result. The microbes in wild ferments exist already on the grape or the flower that begin the transformation. With a lab made isolate often it is a manipulated yeast strain designed to create a predictable result every time, one with less complexity and more focused on a single compound. In wine we refer to this different focus as "manipulative" instead of the "allowing" of nature. 

Rachel Binder IPF Certified Natural Perfumer and Sommelier

Part of the training to become a sommelier involves blind tastings where we can identify the alpha ionone, the geraniol, the linalool that make up aromatic notes in wine. It is from those blind smellings that I really learned the aromatic difference between the lab made and the nature made when I placed isolates nearby to help study for exams. The rose in Barolo transcends, whereas the isolated molecule inhibits the ability to fully smell the wine. It is made from a different philosophy of biochemistry than the Barolo or the Champagne. 
As a sommelier, I have seen this relationship between fermentation, place and time expressed profoundly in wine.  In Burgundy we see wine cellars covered in moss and mold that has been developing since the 1300s, a living microbial history that contributes to the beauty of the wine and its aging process. This is not biotech, this is culture, history and the result of many generations' sheer devotion to creating something beautiful in concert with the land.

In photo- far right perfume wine after primary fermentation ready to be transferred to barrel, alongside Barolo

​The biotech claim is that through lab ferments they can create compounds that smell like something new or even a flower or fruit. Compared to the real flower or fruit, they are linear, loud and not of the same aromatic quality of something grown on land. The process of creating this so-called isolate often involves between two and six other chemicals, reageants and solvents, the final result still often containing trace amounts of BHT.  As the health world calls for less ultra processed foods, we can see in real time that both ultra processed foods and this industrial approach to “new lab made molecules” is creating a world of people who identify as chemically sensitive. Are we actually chemically sensitive, or are our bodies simply reacting to a new foreign material that our bodies don’t recognize?

An ad campaign showing women romping around an orchard claims that “through fermentation we were able to recreate the smell of a pear”, without ever supporting a pear farmer or having a relationship with that orchard. In the comments you see customers so excited to buy a natural product. All the while they are being sold an ultra processed synthetic product with a small amount of naturals. “Natural washing” is all around us, and it is time that we recognize that synthetic things can be produced without being in a base of petrochemicals or other kinds of synthetic scents such as those produced from renewable feedstock.

As an artist who works with champagne technique  ("Method Traditional") to make perfume, the slow process of working with living perfume made with peaches and flowers, time, patience and faith is dramatically different than procuring a lab-made molecule that is identical every time and is not born of the land or seasons.
A real pear contains an extraordinarily complex mixture of aromatic compounds shaped by variety, soil, climate, ripeness, harvest and storage. The chemical composition shifts depending on ripeness. A molecule produced through biotechnology may reproduce one component or facet of that aroma, but it does not contain the botanical complexity of the fruit itself. It is still an impersonation of peach, as opposed to the peach itself.
In my opinion the fermentation of fruit and flowers is the highest expression of nature, the ferment being the most ancient preservation technique allowing these precious materials to live and evolve for many years to come. It is the only true way to capture a perfect summer season into a bottle that can be returned to a decade later so that we may feel the vibrancy of that one special season.