Vineyard management strategies adopted to mitigate the impacts of climate change affect the evolution of phenolics and color during bottle aging of Aglianico wines

The vine is colonized by a multitude of micro-organisms (fungi, bacteria, oomycetes) mainly coming from the microbial reservoir constituted by the soil. These microorganisms have positive or negative effects on the vine (protection against pathogens, resistance to abiotic stress, nutrition, but also triggering of diseases) (Fournier, Pellan et al. 2022). In addition to these functional roles, they respond quickly to environmental changes (climate, cultural practices) which could make them good bioindicators of the functioning of the wine ecosystem.

Winegrowers must adapt more and more their viticultural practices in order to evolve toward a sustainable viticulture, to be competitive and to improve both the production methods and the quality and typicalness of wines. In this context, ‘Terroir’ studies in Loire Valley vineyards have allowed to build decision aid maps that can be used directly by growers to adjust their practices.

A crucial issue associated with the long-term impact of climate change in viticulture concerns the capacity of resilience of the typical varieties currently cultivated in traditional areas. Indeed, regions that are currently characterized by optimal climatic conditions can cease to be so in the future. At the same time, new premium wine production regions may arise north of 50oN. Both these threats and opportunities are based on the assessment of a very likely gradual temperature increase along the 21st century, resulting from the ensemble mean of the state-of-the-art climate projections. Such an assessment is orienting decision-makers and stakeholders to rethink the grapevine cultivation zoning, prefiguring, for each variety, a shift at higher latitudes and/or at higher altitudes areas.

Trebbiano di Lugana (TdL) is a white variety of Vitis vinifera mainly cultivated in an Italian area located south near Garda lake (Verona, north of Italy). This grape cultivar, also known as “Turbiana,” is used for the production of TdL wine with recognized Protected Designation of Origin whose volatile profile was recently determined [1]. The presence of varietal thiols in TdL, namely 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol and its acetate form, conferring the tropical and citrus notes, has been documented. Winemaking strategies were also described with the purpose of protecting and maintain these desired aromas [2]. To the best of our knowledge, the varietal thiol precursors (VTPs) were not previously determined in TdL grape and must. This study aimed to quantify VTPs in both grape during the ripening and must during the pressing. Volatile C6 compounds were also measured in the must fractions.

Aims: Microscopic bud dissection is a common tool used to assess grapevine bud fertility and therefore to predict the yield of the following season