Direct NMR evidence for the dissociation of sulfur-dioxide-bound acetaldehyde under acidic conditions: Impact on wines oxidative stability

The actual demand by consumers for safer and healthier food and beverage is pushing the wine sector to find alternative methods to avoid the use of sulphur dioxide in winemaking. Ozone is already used in the wine industry to produce sulphur dioxide-free wines through the patented method Purovino®.

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.

In front of the economic interest and seeking to respect their environment, the wine growers move gradually towards a policy of reasoning their plant health protection. This is why, starting from epidemiologic studies on grapevine pathogens, forecasting models of the risks are developed by research and experimentation bodies.

Serbian autochthonous vine varieties Smederevka (for white wines) and Prokupac (for rosé and red wines) are the primary representatives of typical characteristics of wines and terroir of numerous wine-growing areas in Serbia. In the past, these varieties were the leading vine varieties, however, as the result of globalization of winemaking and the trend of consumption of wines from widely prevalent vine varieties, they were replaced by introduced international varieties. Smederevka and Prokupac vine varieties are characterized by later time of grape ripening, and relative sensitivity to low temperatures. Climate conditions can be a restrictive factor for production of high-quality grapes and wine and for the spatial spreading of these varieties in hilly continental wine-growing areas.
This paper focuses on the spatial analysis of changes of main climate parameters, in particular, analysis of viticultural bioclimatic indices that were determined for the purposes of viticulture zoning of wine-growing areas in the period 1961-2010, and those same parameters determined for the current, that is, referential climate period (1988-2017). Results of the research, that is, analysis of climate changes indicate that the majority of examined climate parameters in the Oplenac wine-growing district improved from the perspective of Smederevka and Prokupac vine varieties. These studies of climate conditions indicate that changes of analyzed climate parameters, that is, bioclimatic indices will be favorable for cultivation of varieties with later grape ripening times and those more sensitive to low temperatures, such as the autochthonous vine varieties Smederevka and Prokupac, therefore, it is recommended to producers to more actively plant vineyards with these varieties in the territory of the Oplenac wine-growing district.

Understanding how different pedoclimatic conditions interact with vine and berry physiology, and subsequently impact wine quality, is paramount for an good valorization of viticultural terroirs and can help to optimize mitigation strategies in the face of global warming