Characterization and biological effects of extracts from winery by-products

Aim: Pests have a high impact on yield and grape quality in viticulture. An objective and rapid detection of pests under field conditions is needed. New sensing technologies and artificial intelligence could be used for pests detection in digital viticulture. The aim of this work was to apply computer vision and deep learning techniques for automatic detection of spider mite symptoms in grapevine under field conditions. 

Using electromagnetic conductivity mapping and GIS technology, we identified two unique soil zones within a 0.8-hectare Cabernet Franc block in central Virginia, USA.

The crossings of three wild Vitis species are commonly used as rootstocks in wine production worldwide. Factors such as disease resistance and vigor are most important for their selection.
With climate change extending drought conditions and water limitations, the selection of rootstocks conferring increased tolerance to drought takes on greater importance. Therefore, identifying Vitis species with improved drought tolerance and incorporating them into breeding programs could contribute to more resilient rootstocks under water limiting conditions. Furthermore, those species serve as a valuable resource to increase genetic variability of rootstocks. We hypothesize that species native to drier habitats will exhibit superior physiological performance under drought stress.

Nei vini rosati, è il colore ad avere il primo impatto con il consumatore. Esso risulterà tanto più accattivante, quanto più elegante e raffinato si presenta.

In a highly competitive worldwide market, a current challenge for the beverage sector is to diversify the range of products and to offer wines and spirits with typicity and character.

During alcoholic fermentation, wine yeasts generate a large variety of volatile metabolites, including acetate esters, ethyl fatty acid esters, higher alcohols, volatile fatty acids and volatile sulfur compounds that contribute to the aroma profile of wine. These molecules, refered as fermentative aromas, are the most abundant volatile compounds synthetized by yeasts and the metabolic pathways involved in their formation have been well characterized. Furthermore, other molecules with a major organoleptic impact may be produced during wine fermentation including terpene derivatives. However, little information is available on the contribution of yeasts to the formation of these molecules, in particular on their ability to synthethise de novo the terpens derivatives or to produce hydrolytic enzymes involved in the release of varietal precursors.