Grapevine berries produce thousands of secondary metabolites of diverse chemical nature that have been largely detailed in the past due to their importance for defining wine quality. The wide Vitis vinifera diversity, resulting in thousands of different varieties well detailed in many studies regarding berries, is still not investigated in vegetative organs, leaves in particular. Deepening knowledge related to this aspect could be of great interest for many reasons (for example the possibility of using leaf extract for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and nutrition purposes) but, above all, for understanding the susceptibility of different grapevine varieties to pathogens.

The growing region of Barolo DOCG certified wines is topographically complex. The region is famous for this complexity and for the associated terroir driven Nebbiolo grapes and wines derived distinctly from this varietal. Although it is recognized that the Barolo area is unusual topographically and it is assumed that this unusual topography lends to the inherit terroir, the specifics of this relationship are less well defined.

Grapevine cultivars are vegetatively propagated to maintain their varietal characteristics. This process of multiplication leads to spontaneous somatic mutations that can eventually generate a variant phenotype, of potential interest for cultivar improvement and innovation. However, regardless their phenotypic effect, somatic mutations stack in the genome, and they can be used to reveal the origin and dissemination history of ancient cultivars. Here, a stringent somatic variant calling over whole genome resequencing data from 35 ‘Tempranillo Tinto’ clones or old vines from seven Iberian winemaking regions revealed 135 single nucleotide variations (SNVs) shared by some of the clonal lines.

The combination of cover crops with regulated deficit irrigation has been lately shown to be a good method to improve harvest quality in irrigated vineyards of Southern Europe with semiarid climate, as an alternative to the conventional management, that consists on mechanical tillage and irrigation from fruitset to veraison and from then on reduced, or even ended.

In recent years, the consumption of fine wines in Brazil has increased significantly, a phenomenon that is also reflected in the expansion of production to new regions. In the brazilian southeast for example, the so-called “winter wines” are being produced, through management in two cycles, one of formation and one of production, with two prunings and one harvest per year, a technique known as double pruning, with vineyards established at altitudes close to or above 1,000 m above sea level.