Il piano regolatore delle citta’ del vino: una metodologia di lavoro

Heatwaves or extreme heat events can be particularly harmful to agriculture. Grapevines grown in the Douro winemaking region are particularly exposed to this threat, due to the specificities of the already warm and dry climatic conditions. Furthermore, climate change simulations point to an increase in the frequency of occurrence of these extreme heat events, therefore posing a major challenge to winegrowers in the Mediterranean type climates. The current study focuses on the application of the STICS crop model to assess the potential impacts of heatwaves in grapevine yields over the Douro valley winemaking region. For this purpose, STICS was applied to grapevines using high-resolution weather, soil and terrain datasets over the Douro. To assess the impact of heatwaves, the weather dataset (1989-2005) was artificially modified, generating periods with anomalously high temperatures (+5 ºC), at certain onset dates and with specific durations (from 5 to 9 days). The model was run with this modified weather dataset and results were compared to the original unmodified runs. The results show that heatwaves can have a very strong impact on grapevine yields, strongly depending on the onset dates and duration of the heatwaves. The highest negative impacts may result in a decrease in the yield by up to -35% in some regions. Despite some uncertainties inherent to the current modelling assessment, the present study highlights the negative impacts of heatwaves on viticultural yields in the Douro region, which is critical information for stakeholders within the winemaking sector for planning suitable adaptation measures.

La topographie du vignoble de Côte Rôtie, la prédominance de la non culture ainsi que la structure très légère des sols amènent les vignerons à s’interroger sur l’entretien du sol, la conduite de la fertilisation de leurs parcelles ainsi que sur le développement racinaire de la vigne.

Different “landscape unit” have been identified in Bolgheri area (a viticultural appellation in the Tirrenian coast of Tuscany) by the aid of pedological, landscape and agronomic observations in the 1992-1993 period. In all cultivar (Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) x landscape unit combinations, experimental plots were chosen in homogeneous vineyards, single cordon trained (about 3300-4500 vines/hectare). Grape maturation was studied by weekly samples of berries from veraison to vintage in the 1992-1995 period. At harvest yield and must composition traits were measured and, from the most représentative plots, sixty kilograms of grapes were harvested each year and vinified according to a standardised scheme. Wines were evaluated by standard chemical and sensory analyses.

The objective of the present work is to assess yeast effects on the development of wine varietal aroma throughout aging and on wine longevity.

Three independent experiments were carried out; two fermenting semi-synthetic musts fortified with polyphenols and aroma precursors extracted from Tempranillo (1) or Albariño (2) grapes and with synthetic precursors of polyfunctional mercaptans (PFMs), and a third in which a must, mixture of 6 different grape varieties was used. In all cases, fermentations were carried out by different Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and one S. kudriavzevii, and the obtained wines were further submitted to anoxic accelerated aging to reproduce bottle aging. The volatile profile of the wines was analyzed using several chromatographic procedures, in order to provide a comprehensive evaluation of wine aroma. Aroma compounds analyzed included fermentation volatile metabolites, grape-derived aroma compounds including PFMs, and Strecker aldehydes (SA).

Results revealed that the effects of yeast on wine aroma throughout its self-life extend along three main axes:

1. A direct or indirect action on primary varietal aroma and on its evolution during wine
aging.

2. The direct production of SA during fermentation and/or their delayed formation by producing the required reagents (amino acids + dicarbonyls) for Strecker degradation
during anoxic aging.

3. Producing acids (leucidic, branched acids) precursors to fruity esters. More specifically, and leaving aside the infrequent de novo formation, the action of the different strains of yeast on primary varietal aroma takes four different forms:

1.- Speeding the hydrolysis of aroma precursors, which leads to early aroma formation without changing the amount of aroma formed. In the case of labile molecules, such as linalool, the enhancement of young wine aroma implies a short-living wine. 2.- Metabolizing the aroma precursor, reducing the amounts of aroma formed, which can be of advantage for negative aroma compounds, such as TDN or guaiacol; 3.- Transforming grape components into aroma precursors, increasing the amounts of aroma formed, as for ethyl cinnamate, leucidic acid or vinylphenols; 4.- Forming reactive species such as vinylphenols able to destroy varietal polyfunctional mercaptans.

Overall, it can be concluded that the yeast carrying alcoholic fermentation not only influences fermentative wine aroma but also affects to the wine varietal aroma, to its evolution during aging and to the development of oxidative off-odors

INTEGRAPE was a European interdisciplinary network for “data integration to maximize the power of omics for grapevine improvement” (CA17111, https://integrape.eu/), funded by the European COST Association from September 2018 to 2022. This Action successfully developed guidelines and tools for data management and promoted the best practices in grapevine omics studies with a holistic future vision of: “Imagine having all data on grapevine accessible in a single place”.