Microorganisms play an important role in the conversion of grape juice into wine. Different species of yeast are mainly responsible for the production of ethanol. Lactic acid bacteria also occur regularly in must or wine. They are mostly undesirable due to their capacity to produce wine-spoiling compounds. Especially strains of Lactobacillus brevis are able to produce biogenic amines as well as precursors of ethyl carbamate and different off-flavours (N-heterocycles, volatile phenols). By excessive formation of acetic acid some lactobacilli may even induce slow/stuck grape juice fermentations. In conventional winemaking, additions of sulphite or lysozyme are used to inhibit the growth of spoilage microorganisms. There is a strong interest in finding alternatives, because of the reduced activity of lysozyme in the wine milieu, a limited growth-inhibiting activity against lactic acid bacteria, and some health risks described regarding the application of sulphite. We found that a culture supernatant of Streptomyces albidoflavus B 578 lysed all bacteria previously isolated from must and wine samples (Acetobacter sp., Lactobacillus sp., Leuconostoc sp., Oenococcus oeni, Pediococcus sp., Staphylococcus sp.) including 35 strains of L. brevis. Two bacteriolytic exoenzymes were isolated and characterized from the streptomycete: a muramidase (24 kDa) and a protease (17 kDa). Both hydrolyzed cell wall components of L. brevis (peptidoglycan, S-layer proteins) and were active under wine-relevant conditions.