What metabolomics teaches us about wine shelf life

High power ultrasound has been recently recognized one of the most promising technologies in winemaking processes, especially after the recent OIV resolution, concerning the application of ultrasounds on crushed grapes to promote the extraction of skin compounds.

Vegetative growth and yield are reported to affect grape and wine quality. They can be controlled through different techniques linked to vine management. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of vine vigour and number of clusters per vine on physicochemical composition and phenolic profile of red wines. The experiment was carried out during two vegetative cycles, with cv. Cabernet Sauvignon grafted onto Paulsen 1103. Three vine vigour were defined, according to shoot weight at previous harvests, being low, medium and high. Five treatments of number of clusters were used for each vigour, with 15, 22, 29, 36, and 45 clusters per vine. Grapes from all treatments were harvested in the same day from Brix and total acidity criteria. Thirty days after bottling, classical analyzes and phenolic compounds were performed. As results, different responses were obtained from each vintage. In 2020, a dry season from veraison to harvest, grapes and wines obtained from low vigour treatment and 45 clusters per vine was the highest in sugar and alcohol content respectively, while grapes and wines from high vigour and 15 clusters presented the lowest sugar and alcohol content. Total anthocyanins were higher in treatment with low vigour and 15 clusters, while the lowest amounts were found in low vigour with 45 clusters, as well as medium and high vigour with 36 clusters per vine. Total tannins were higher in high vigour with 22 clusters and medium vigour with 29 clusters, while were lower in low vigour with 36 clusters. In 2021, a wet season at harvest, responses were different, and great variations were observed between treatments. As conclusions, yield and vine vigour had strong influence on grape and wine quality, promoting different enological potentials on which can be indicated/used for aging strategies of red and even rosé wines.

The sulphur dioxide (SO2) is the most widely used additive in the wine industry because of its preservative action. However, in recent years the number of wineries that produce wines without SO2 has increased significantly because its allergenic character.

The development and application of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas (CRISPR-associated protein) technologies have revolutionized genome editing in plants due to its simplicity, high efficiency, and versatility. As an economically important fruit crop worldwide, grapevine genome editing using CRISPR/Cas technologies has also been reported these years. Here we introduce the development briefly of the most popular CRISPR/Cas9 system and also the state-of-the-art CRISPR technologies developed so far. Moreover, we summarize CRISPR/Cas9-mediated applications for gene functional study and trait improvement in grapevine.

To limit the acceleration of global warming we need to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (GHG), making our production processes more carbon-efficient and optimizing absorptions.