Il piano regolatore delle città’ del vino: aspetti urbanistici, economici e turistici

All along the winemaking process, conditioning and aging, wine is susceptible to be contaminated by different molecules. Contaminations can have various origins, related to wine microorganisms or as a result of an exogenous contamination. The aforementioned contamination of the wine can be caused by the migration of molecules from the materials in contact with the wine or by a contamination from exogenous molecules present in the air. Regardless of the source of the contamination, mainly two types of consequences can be observed.

There is an urgent need to develop protective measures for grapevines in historically significant dry-farming vineyards, particularly on Mediterranean islands.

The choice of sites for viticulture depends on natural environmental factors, particularly climate, as grapevines have specific climatic requirements for optimum physiological performance and berry quality achievement. In the Stellenbosch wine-producing region, the complex topography and the proximity of the ocean create a variety of topoclimates resulting in different growth conditions for vines within short distances.

The type of soil management, tillage versus cover crops, can modify the soil microbial activity, which causes the mineralization of organic N to NO3–N and, therefore, may change the soil NO3–N availability in vineyard. The soil NO3–N availability could influence the grapevine nutritional status and the grape amino acid composition. Amino acids are precursors of biogenic amines, compounds mainly formed during the malolactic fermentation. Biogenic amines have negative effects on consumer health and on the wine organoleptic quality. The objective was to study if the effect of conventional tillage and two different cover crops (leguminous versus gramineous) on grapevine N status, could relate to the wine biogenic amines composition.

The grapevine is facing significant challenges due to climate change, as rising temperatures impact its physiological traits and disrupt plant phenology.