Phenological characterization of a wide range of Vitis Vinifera varieties

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most commonly used yeast species in winemaking. The recent research showed that non-Saccharomyces yeasts as fermentation starters show numerous beneficial features and can be utilized to reduce wine alcoholic strength, regulate acidity, serve as bioprotectants, and finally improve wine aromatic complexity. The majority of published studies on this topic investigated the influence of sequential or co-inoculations of non-Saccharomyces and S. cerevisiae yeasts on the aroma of final wine.

Context and purpose. Nitrogen (N) is crucial for plant development but is used inefficiently, with only 30–40% of the fertilizer assimilated by crops, leading to significant environmental losses.

Climate change imposes increasing restrictions and risks to Mediterranean viticulture. Extreme heat and drought stress events are becoming more frequent which puts in risk sustainability of Mediterranean viticulture. Moreover row crops e.g. grapevine for wine, are increasingly prone to the impact of more intense/longer exposure time to heat stress. The amplified effects of soil surface energy reflectance and conductance on soil-atmosphere heat fluxes can be harmful for leaf and berry physiology.

In viticulture, climate change significantly impacts the plant’s development and the quality and characteristics of wines. These variations are often observed over short distances in a wine-growing region and are linked to local features (slope, soil, seasonal climate, etc.). The high spatial variability of climate caused by local factors is often of the same order or even higher than the temperature increase simulated by the different IPCC scenarios.

Brettanomyces bruxellensis is an ubiquitous yeast associated with different fermentation media such as beer and kombucha, where its presence is beneficial to bring an aromatic typicity. However, it is a main spoilage yeast in wines, in which it produces volatile phenols responsible for organoleptic deviations causing significant economic losses (Chatonnet et al., 1992). Cellar and winery equipment’s are considered as the first source of contamination, during fermentation and wine ageing process (Connel et al., 2002). Indeed, it is possible to find B. bruxellensis in the air, on walls and floors of the cellars, on small materials, vats and barrels.