Impact of climate variability and change on grape yield in Italy

The project “Terroir Hesse” works out the main type and characteristics of soil-based terroirs and the resulting wine styles for the hessian wine-growing regions Rheingau and Hessian Bergstrasse.

Aim: To define the uniqueness of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon wines by evaluation of the chemical composition (volatile aroma and non-volatile constituents) that may drive regional typicity, and to correlate this with comprehensive sensory analysis data to identify the most important compounds driving relevant sensory attributes.

To face emerging competition and challenges, wine producers globally rely on precision viticulture (PV) solutions to boost productivity, enhance quality, increase profitability, and reduce the environmental impact of vineyards. Current pv methods predominantly use multispectral sensor data from several platforms (satellites or vineyard installations). However, these applications generally use data analysis strategies lacking physiological grapevine support.

Micropropagation is an important alternative to conventional methods of plant propagation. The objective of this study was to optimize a protocol for in vitro micropropagation of selected grapevine hybrids (H19 and H20) that are included in our breeding program. For the sprouting initiation experiment, nodal cuttings with only one axillary bud from two hybrids were separated, disinfected, and cultivated in 50% Murashige Skoog nutrient medium (½ MS) and Woody Plant Medium (WPM), adding 4.4 µM benzyladenine (BA) in both mediums.

Hanseniaspora vineae (Hv) is a fermenting non-Saccharomyces yeast that compared to Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sc) present some peculiar features on its metabolism that make it attractive for its use in wine production. Among them, it has been reported a faster yeast lysis and release of polysaccharides, as well as increased ß-glucosidase activity. Hv also produces distinctive aroma compounds, including elevated levels of fermentative compounds such as ß-phenylethyl acetate and norisoprenoids like safranal. However, it is known for its high nutritional requirements, resulting in prolonged and sluggish fermentations, even when complemented with Sc strain and nutrients.