Many fungal species found in nature have an impact on the wine production process. Yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae are able to conduct alcoholic fermentation and give the final product pleasant aroma and flavors and typicality. In contrast, mushrooms such as Aspergillus and Cladosporium can inhibit fermentation or impart unpleasant flavors and aromas to the wine. The deleterious yeasts for fermentation are currently limited by the treatment with antifungal compounds, harmful to humans, the environment, and the yeasts beneficial to fermentation.

As an alternative to this practice, it is possible to take advantage of the recently demonstrated association between insects and natural yeasts: social insects (wasps) are capable not only of keeping yeasts of oenological interest but also of transferring them to the grapes in the vineyard. However, the needs for intensive exploitation are substantially changing the structure of the Piedmontese territory by reducing the areas kept to spontaneous vegetation, which have the potential to influence the presence of insects, therefore the composition of the yeast populations in the vineyard and consequently the wine.