Balearic varieties of grapevine: study of genetic variability in the response to water stress

The evaluation of the current and future impact of climate change on viticulture requires an integrated view on a complex interacting system within the soil-plant-atmospheric continuum under continuous change. Aside of the globally observed increase in temperature in almost all viticulture regions for at least four decades, we observe several clear trends at the regional level in the ratio of precipitation to potential evapotranspiration. Additionally the recently published 6th assessment report of the ipcc (the physical science basis) shows case-dependent further expected shifts in climate patterns which will have substantial impacts on the way we will conduct viticulture in the decades to come.

Context and purpose. The vine is a holobiont, where the plant interacts positively, negatively, and neutrally with microbes that together form the vine’s microbiome.

The use of elicitors to promote the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in grapes has been tackled in several reports, however its study linked to nanotechnology is less developed.

Studying the effect of the addition of reduced glutathione (GSH) and/or gallotannins at bottling to limit the use of SO2 in white winemaking.

Grapevine rootstocks have traditionally been chosen in order to manage scion vigour, soil pests and soil conditions. Riparia Gloire de Montpellier (RGM) has been in use since the turn of the 19th century, over 100 years and still a remarkably stable source of phylloxera (Daktulosphaeria vitifoliae Fitch) resistance. The original source material was probably collected near the Missouri/Mississippi river confluence, a mid-continental but more southerly location in the United States. It has been hypothesized that more northerly selections of V. riparia Michx might improve both fall acclimation rate and depth of the scion, thus mitigating late fall frost and midwinter freeze damage.