Varietal thiol precursors in Trebbiano di Lugana grape and must

Several classes of flavonoids, such as anthocyanins, flavonols, flavanols and flavones, undergo a slow H/D exchange on aromatic ring A, leading to full deuteration at positions C(6) and C(8). Within the flavanol class, H-C(6) and H-C(8) of catechin and epicatechin are slowly exchanged in D2O to the corresponding deuterated analogues; even quercetin, a relevant flavonol representative, shows the same behaviour in a D2O/DMSOd6 1:1 solution. Detailed kinetic measurements of these H/D scrambling processes are here reported by exploiting the time-dependent changes of their peak areas in the 1H-NMR spectra taken at different temperatures. A unifying reaction mechanism is also proposed based on our detailed kinetic observations, even taking into account pH and solvent effects. Molecular modelling and QM calculations were also carried out to shed more light on several molecular details of the proposed mechanism.

AIM: Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) [1] is a modern technology for fast and sensitive amplification of specific DNA sequences under isothermal conditions. Its simple handling and no need for dedicated equipment together with an evaluation of the amplification event by in-tube detection make this method advantageous and economically affordable for on-site investigations in the industry.

AIM: The composition and quality of wine are directly linked to microorganisms involved in the alcoholic fermentation. Several studies have been conducted on the impact of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on volatile compounds composition after fermentation. However, if different studies have dealt with combined sensory and volatiles analyses, few works have compared so far the impact of distinct yeast strains on the global metabolome of the wine.

Since the 1980s global regime shift, grape growers have been steadily adapting to a changing climate. These adaptations have preserved the region-climate-cultivar rapports that have established the global trade of wine with lucrative economic benefits since the middle of 17th century. The advent of using fractions of crop and actual evapotranspiration replacement in vineyards with the use of supplemental irrigation has furthered the adaptation of wine grape cultivation. The shift in trellis systems, as well as pruning methods from positioned shoot systems to sprawling canopies, as well as adapting the bearing surface from head-trained, cane-pruned to cordon-trained, spur-pruned systems have also aided in the adaptation of grapevine to warmer temperatures. In warm climates, the use of shade cloth or over-head shade films not only have aided in arresting the damage of heat waves, but also identified opportunities to reduce the evapotranspiration from vineyards, reducing environmental footprint of vineyard. Our increase in knowledge on how best to understand the response of grapevine to climate change was aided with the identification of solar radiation exposure biomarker that is now used for phenotyping cultivars in their adaptability to harsh environments. Using fruit-based metrics such as sugar-flavonoid relationships were shown to be better indicators of losses in berry integrity associated with a warming climate, rather than solely focusing on region-climate-cultivar rapports. The resilience of wine grape was further enhanced by exploitation of rootstock × scion combinations that can resist untoward droughts and warm temperatures by making more resilient grapevine combinations. Our understanding of soil-plant-atmosphere continuum in the vineyard has increased within the last 50 years in such a manner that growers are able to use no-till systems with the aid of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi inoculation with permanent cover cropping making the vineyard more resilient to droughts and heat waves. In premium wine grape regions viticulture has successfully adapted to a rapidly changing climate thus far, but berry based metrics are raising a concern that we may be approaching a tipping point.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different soil types on the chemical composition of Mediterranean red wines, through untargeted and targeted 1H-NMR metabolomics. One milliliter of raw wine was analyzed by means of a Bruker Avance II 400 spectrometer operating at 400.15 MHz. The spectra were recorded by applying the NOESYGPPS1D pulse sequency, to achieve water and ethanol signals suppression. No modification of the pH was performed to avoid any chemical alteration of the matrix. The generation of input variables for untargeted analysis was done via bucketing the spectra. The resulting dataset was preprocessed prior to perform unsupervised PCA, by means of MetaboAnalyst web-based tool suite. The identification of compounds for the targeted analysis was performed by comparison to pure compounds spectra by means of SMA plug-in of MNova 14.2.3 software. The dataset containing the concentrations (%) of identified compounds was subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to highlight significant differences among the wines. The untargeted analysis, carried out through the PCA, revealed a clear differentiation among the wines. The fragments of the spectra contributing mostly to the separation were attributed to flavonoids, aroma compounds and amino acids. The targeted analysis leaded to the identification of 68 compounds, whose concentrations were significant different among the wines. The results were related to soils physical-chemical analysis and showed that: 1) high concentrations of flavan-3-ols and flavonols are correlated with high clay content in soils; 2) high concentrations of anthocyanins, amino acids, and aroma compounds are correlated with neutral and moderately alkaline soil pH; 3) low concentrations of flavonoids and aroma compounds are correlated with high soil organic matter content and acidic pH. The 1H-NMR metabolomic analysis proved to be an excellent tool to discriminate between wines originating from grapes grown on different soil types and revealed that soils in the Mediterranean area exert a strong impact on the chemical composition of the wines.