Rationalizing The Wine Nucleophilic Competition For Quinone Addition

The availability of water in the soil and the water status of the vineyard are proving to be determining factors for crop management in the current context of climatic variation

Grapevine is one of the crops that may suffer more negative impacts
under climate change, due not only to changes in temperature but also due to water available. Some of the most direct effects of climate variability on grapevines are the changes in the onset and timing of phenology events and changes in the length of the growing season, which may have further effects on grape quality. The aim of this research was to analyze the changes in vine phenology of some red varieties (Tempranillo, Grenache and Carignan) cultivated in Rioja Oriental (Rioja DOCa), under different climate change scenarios.

The use of new fungus disease-tolerant varieties is a promising long-term solution to better manage chemical input in viticulture, but unfortunately little is known regarding these new hybrids fruit development and metabolites accumulation in front of abiotic stresses such as water deficit (WD). Thus, prior to the adoption of such varieties by the wine industry in Mediterranean regions, there is a need to consider their suitability to WD.

Wine lees are the second most important wine by-product in terms of quantity after grape stalk and marc. During aging on lees, it is well known that wine lees yield compounds that act as antioxydant. However the chemical nature of the compounds involved in this behavior (except polyphenols and glutathione) has not yet been totally elucidated. The scarce knowledge of wine lees composition and their potential exploitation make them a promising candidate to obtain new antioxidant products to be used in winemaking. In this study, an eco-sustainable approach to obtain lees extracts exhibiting antioxidant capacity is proposed. Such extracts could be used in a global enological strategy of sulfites level reduction.

The characterization of « the soil effect » in vine growing is often limited to the description of the physical components of the terroir. Many works were done in this direction and corresponded to geological, pedological or agronomical approaches. However, if the physical environment influences the vine and its grapes, its effect becomes limited at the scale of exploitation. Thus, it could be important to consider how the viticulturist « translated » the potential.