Influence of weather and climatic conditions on the viticultural production in Croatia

In viticulture, a warming climate can have a very significant impact on grapevine development and therefore on the quality and characteristics of wines across different spatial scales, ranging from global to local. In order to adapt wine-growing to climate change, global climate models can be used to define future scenarios, but only at the scale of major wine regions. Despite the huge progress made over the last ten years in terms of the spatial resolution of climate models (now downscaled to a few square kilometres), they are not yet sufficiently precise to account for the local climate variability associated with such parameters as local topography, in spite of these parameters being decisive for vine and wine characteristics. This study describes a method to downscale future climate scenarios to vineyard scale. Networks of data loggers have been used to collect air temperature at canopy level in the Waipara winegrowing region (New Zealand) over five growing seasons. These measurements allow the creation of fine-scale geostatistical models and maps of temperature (at 100 m resolution) for the growing season. In order to model climate change at pilot site scale, these geostatistical models have been combined with regional climate change predictions for the periods 2031-2050 and 2081-2100 based on the RCP8.5 climate change scenario. The integration of local climate variability with regionalized climate change simulations allows assessment of the impacts of climate change at the vineyard scale. The improved knowledge gained using this methodology results from the increased horizontal resolution that better addresses the concerns of winegrowers. The results provide the local winegrowers with information necessary to understand current processes, as well as historical and future viticulture trends at the scale of their site, thereby facilitating decisions about future response strategies.

The METAPIWI project advances viticulture research by examining microbial communities in PIWI (fungus-resistant) grapevines compared to traditional Vitis vinifera. It investigates how these microbes influence spontaneous fermentation and the production of distinct metabolites and aromas.

Grappa is the most important italian spirit and its production includes elements of history, tradition, and culture of the transalpine country. In accordance with EU laws, grappa is obtained from the fermentation and distillation of the pomace, eventually added with fermentation lees and water. Grappa is one of the richest fruit distillates in volatile compounds that confer to the product its characteristic flagrance. The aroma is largely due to the volatile compounds present in the raw materials, in particular alcohols, esters and carbonyl compounds formed during the alcoholic fermentation, but also to grape aromas such as terpenols and norisoprenoids, that confers grappa the distinctive floral scents.

Dead or dying vines must be replaced regularly in order to ensure the sustainability of a vineyard. Successful plant replacement is crucial to maintain yield and quality by encouraging balanced root and leaf development in vines. However, young vines planted within an established vineyard encounter several problems, ranging from poor soil conditions to competition with older vines with well-established root systems.  

In the context of climate change and for the sustainable exploitation of Mediterranean vineyards, it is necessary to use new strategies to adapt to the new climatic conditions.