Vitamins in grape must: let’s lift a corner of the veil

In the current context of market competition and consumption evolution, it is necessary to produce wines of a genuine typicity. The Terroir represents an unique and irreproducible inheritance that can be valorized through the origin and the sensory characteristics of the wines.

The ecological conditions (climatic factors and soil) during the whole year, and especially before flowering and during the time of flowering, have a great influence on the functional ability of pollen, the pollination, the fecundation and the yielding potential of the cultivars of grapevine.

The Valpolicella area (Veneto Region, Italy) is famous for its high quality wines: Amarone and Recioto, both obtained from partial post-harvest dehydrated red grapes. The main cultivars used for these wines are Corvina and Corvinone. In this Region hundreds of years ago a particular training system (Pergola, cordon/cane with horizontal shoot-positioning) was developed. In the last 20 years the Guyot have been introduced in the area; now Pergola and Guyot are equally widespread in the Valpolicella area. In two different environmental conditions (hill and floodplain) two vineyards, one for each type of training system, were studied along two years (2011-2012).

Vines are one of the most pesticide-intensive crops in France, and reducing their use is a major challenge for both the environment and human health.

Aims: This work aimed i) to calibrate the accuracy of estimating vineyard water status by crop water stress index (CWSI) compared to stem water potential; ii) to determine the time interval during the day that best correlates to stem water potential and iii) to understand the its usefulness.