Oenococcus

{{Short description|Genus of bacteria}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = O. oeni.jpg

| taxon = Oenococcus

| authority = Dicks et al. 1995{{cite journal | vauthors = Dicks LM, Dellaglio F, Collins MD | title = Proposal to reclassify Leuconostoc oenos as Oenococcus oeni [corrig.] gen. nov., comb. nov. | journal = Int J Syst Bacteriol | year = 1995 | volume = 45 | pages = 395–397 | pmid = 7537074 | doi = 10.1099/00207713-45-2-395| doi-access = free }}

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision_ref = {{cite web | vauthors = Euzéby JP, Parte AC | url = https://lpsn.dsmz.de/genus/oenococcus | title = Oenococcus | access-date = July 1, 2021 | publisher = List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)}}

| type_species = Oenococcus oeni

| type_species_authority = (Garvie 1967) Dicks et al. 1995

| subdivision =

• Oenococcus alcoholitolerans Badotti et al. 2015
• "Candidatus Oenococcus aquikefiri" Verce et al. 2019
• Oenococcus kitaharae Endo and Okada 2006
• Oenococcus oeni (Garvie 1967) Dicks et al. 1995
• "Oenococcus sicerae" Cousin et al. 2019

}}

Oenococcus is a genus of gram-positive bacteria, placed within the family Lactobacillaceae. The only species in the genus was Oenococcus oeni (which was known as Leuconostoc oeni until 1995). In 2006, the species Oenococcus kitaharae was identified. As its name implies, Oenococcus oeni holds major importance in the field of oenology, where it is the primary bacterium involved in completing malolactic fermentation.{{cite book | vauthors = Kunkee RE | year = 1973 | chapter = Malo-Lactic Fermentation and Winemaking | title = The Chemistry of Winemaking | series = Adv. Chem. Ser. 137 | veditors = Webb AD | publisher = American Chemical Society | location = Washington, DC}}