Amphora Wines: To Pitch Or Not To Pitch

Flavescence dorée (FD) is a very serious grapevine disease, classified as quarantine in europe, where it appeared in the middle of the last century. It is associated with the presence of phytoplasmas, transmitted in the vineyard by a leafhopper of american origin, scaphoideus titanus. FD causes severe wine production losses and often leads to plant death. There are currently no alternative solutions to insecticide treatments against the vector and uprooting diseased vines.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the organic, biodynamic and conventional production processes on the typicality of the Chianti DOCG wine and the relation with the environmental impact in terms of CO2 production

Wine biological aging is characterized by the development of yeast strains that form a biofilm on the wine surface after alcoholic fermentation. These yeasts, known as flor yeasts, form a velum that protects the wine from oxidation during aging. Thirty-nine velums aged from 1 to 6 years were sampled from “Vin jaune” from two different cellars. We show for the first time that these velums possess various aspects in term of color and surface aspects. Surprisingly, the heterogeneous velums are mostly composed of one species, S. cerevisiae. Scanning electron microscope observations of these velums revealed unprecedented biofilm structures and various yeast morphologies formed by the sole S. cerevisiae species.

One of the most important effects of climate change in wine-growing areas is the advance of phenological stages, especially concerning early berry ripening. In the hottest seasons, this results in a lack of synchrony between sugar and phenolic ripeness. In order to cope with this fact, a general effort is being made by researchers and growers aiming at delaying ripening through different strategies. One of the proposed approaches is the application of elicitors. This study aims to assess the effect at the transcriptomic level of the application of three hormone- and natural-based elicitors in Tempranillo.

Aromatic characterization is a key issue to enhance wines knowledge. While several studies argue the importance of wine expertise in the ability of performing odor-related sensory tasks, there is still little attention paid to the influence of expertise on the semantic representation of wine odors.