Is wine terroir a valid concept under a changing climate?

Aim: Among Botryosphaeriaceae species associated with Botryosphaeria dieback of grapevines, Neofusicoccum parvum is one of the most virulent and fastest wood-colonizing fungi. This study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of six red grapevine cultivars (“Bobal”, “Monastrell”, “Garnacha Tinta”, “Moravia Agria”, “Tinto Velasco” and “Moribel” to N. parvum, under field conditions.

Ozalj- vivodina region is small vine growing area (only about 100 hectares of vineyards), but with significant number of old, ancient vineyards planted between 50 and 100 years ago. Trend of abandoning or replanting ancient vineyards takes place for the last 30 years. This trend results in grapevine germplasm erosion because traditional varieties are replaced with well known international varieties.Few known traditional varieties are dominantly present in ancient vineyards together with many others of unknown identity. Historical data about prevalence and characteristic of varieties on this area are very poor.

Carbaryl is an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor-type insecticide used for pest control on grapevine. We repeatedly observed the occurrence of interveinal leaf necrosis following carbaryl spray application in a Vitis rupestris x Vitis riparia F1 hybrid progeny vineyard. Spray applications induced necrosis in this progeny under both Missouri and New York field conditions an approximate one-to-one sensitive-to-insensitive segregation ratio and with 42% concordance. Results of subsequent in vitro experiments established causality between carbaryl treatment and leaf necrosis and confirmed the pattern of segregation observed in the field. We consistently map this phenotype to a major QTL on chromosome 16 of the female parent V. rupestris ‘B38’ regardless of whether we used field or in vitro-generated phenotype data.

Tannins are a heterogenous class of polymeric phenolics found in grapes, oak barrels and wine. In red wine tannins are primarily responsible for astringency, though they also have an important role in reacting with and stabilizing pigments. There are numerous sub-classes of tannins found in wine but they all share structural heterogeneity within each sub-class, with varied polymer composition, configuration and length.

Numerous methodologies exist for the quantification of tannins, however, protein precipitation using bovine serum albumin has proved itself useful due to its strong correlation to the sensory perception of astringency and the basic instruments required for the method. Though the method can yield valuable insights into tannin composition, it cannot be automated easily and necessitates well-trained personnel.

Measuring the effect of oxygen consumption on the color of wines as the level of dissolved oxygen decreases over time is very useful to know how much oxygen a wine can consume without significantly altering its color. The changes produced in wine after being exposed to high oxygen concentrations have been studied by different authors, but in all cases the wine has been analyzed once the oxygen consumption process has been completed. This work presents the results obtained with the use of an equipment designed and made to measure simultaneously the level of dissolved oxygen and the spectrum of the wine, during the oxygen consumption process from saturation levels with air to very low levels, which indicate the total consumption of the dosed oxygen[1,2].