Improvement of the red wine AOC Grignolino d’Asti typicality using some technological innovations

The chemistry of wine is notably complex and is modified by ageing of the bottles. The composition of wines is the result of vine production (under the influence of vintage, climate and soils); yeast production (under the influence of juice composition and fermentation management); lactic bacteria production (under the influence of young wine composition and malolactic fermentation management); and of the ageing process either in vats, barrels or bottles or both. The composition is linked to the quality perceived by consumers but also to their origin, sometimes associated to the “terroir” concept.

Wine tasting has been shown to provide emotions to tasters (Coste et al. 2018). How will expertise impact this emotional response? Burnham and Skilleås (2012) reported that the cultural, experiential, and aesthetic competencies characterize an expert in wine compared to a novice. Although there is no consensual definition of an aesthetic experience, Burnham and Skilleås (2012) reported that aesthetic appreciation is “disinterested, normative for others and communicable” in comparison to sensory pleasure.

During oak wood contact, wine undergoes important modifications that modulate its organoleptic quality and complexity, including its aroma, structure, astringency, bitterness and color. Vescalagin and castalagin are the two main C-glucosidic ellagitannins found in oak wood used for wine aging wood but lyxose/xylose derivatives (grandinin and roburin e) and dimeric forms (roburins a,b, c and d) are also present. The presence of several hydroxyl groups in the ortho-positions at the periphery of the structure of the ellagitannin isomers allows these molecules to undergo oxidation or condensation reactions with other compounds.

Climate is a key variable for grapevine development and berry ripening processes. At mesoscale level, climate spatial variations are often determined empirically, as weather station networks are generally not dense enough to account for local climate variations.

Aims: The objective of this research was to analyse the spatial and temporal variability of vine phenology of the Tempranillo variety in the Toro Designation of Origen (DO) related to climatic conditions at present and under future climate change scenarios.