Vite e territorio. Il caso della Franciacorta nel medioevo

The Maule region hosts up to a third of the total area of vineyards in Chile, in an environment where ancient practices inherited from the colonial past coexist with modernity and dynamism that include technified irrigation and fine vines. In the dry land of Maule there is a viticulture that has subsisted with ancient vines and traditions transmitted over generations, and there is little clarity about the origin and classification of the Maule viticulture, giving rise to the use of different concepts as synonyms to describe the ancient, minority, patrimonial or Criollas vines. In order to characterize and protect the ancient material, we studied the genetic diversity of a territorial collection that covers 80% of the communes of the region, prioritizing plants established more than 40-60 years ago.

The consequences of the global climate change in the vitiviniculture are revealed as a gap between phenolic and technological grape maturities, higher grape sugar concentration that leads to high wine alcohols levels, lower acidities and high pH values, among others. The unbalanced phenolic maturity caused in this scenario leads to harsh astringency and to instable colour of wines. Previous studies have reported that the addition of yeast mannoproteins (MPs) to wines may have positive effects on these two organoleptic properties due to their capability to interact with wine polyphenols [1]; however, studies about the effect of the pH on these interactions have not been carried out so far.

Majority of California’s vineyards rely on supplemental irrigation to overcome abiotic stressors. In the context of climate change, increases in growing season temperatures and crop evapotranspiration pose a risk to adaptation of viticulture to climate change. Vineyard cover crops may mitigate soil erosion and preserve water resources; but there is a lack of information on how they contribute to vineyard resiliency under tillage systems. The aim of this study was to identify the optimum combination of cover crop sand tillage without adversely affecting productivity while preserving plant water status. Two experiments in two contrasting climatic regions were conducted with two cover crops, including a permanent short stature grass (P. bulbosa hybrid), barley (Hordeum spp), and resident vegetation under till vs. no-till systems in a Ruby Cabernet (V. vinifera spp.) (Fresno) and a Cabernet Sauvingon (Napa) vineyard. Results indicated that permanent grass under no-till preserved plant available water until E-L stage 17. Consequently, net carbon assimilation of the permanent grass under no-till system was enhanced compared to those with barley and resident vegetation. On the other hand, the barley under no-till system reduced grapevine net carbon assimilation during berry ripening that led to lower content of nonstructural carbohydrates in shoots at dormancy. Components of yield and berry composition including flavonoid profile at either site were not adversely affected by factors studied. Switching to a permanent cover crop under a no-till system also provided a 9% and 3% benefit in cultural practices costs in Fresno and Napa, respectively. The results of this work provides fundamental information to growers in preserving resiliency of vineyard systems in hot and warm climate regions under context of climate change.

The research is part of the “Ecovinegoals” project, financed by Interreg Adrion funds. It aims to encourage the adoption and dissemination of agroecological practices in intensive wine-growing areas. The study focuses on cost analysis of the wine-growing landscape enhancement in an organic winery in order to provide a useful tool for winemakers to direct their investments in green infrastructures. One of the Italian pilot areas of the Ecovinegoals project is the Venezia Biodistrict, characterized by viticulture in a flat reclamation area of 105,800 hectares.

The composition in condensed tannins of the grape berries is essential for the quality of the harvest. Proanthocyanidins have a significant influence on the organoleptic properties of the red wines