The chemical composition of disease resistant hybrid grape cultivars and its impact on wine quality: an exploratory enquiry into sustainable wines

Diverse ripening disorders affect grapevine resulting in high economic losses worldwide. The common obvious symptom is shriveling berries, however the shriveling pattern and the consequences for berry quality traits are distinct in each disorder. Among them, the disorder berry shrivel is characterized by a reduced sugar accumulation short after the onset of berry ripening leaving the clusters unsuitable for wine processing. Although our knowledge on BS increased recently, potential internal or external triggers contributing to the induction of BS are yet to be explored.

Amarone is an Italian red wine produced in the Valpolicella area, in north-eastern Italy. Due to its elaboration with withered grapes, Amarone is a rather unique example of dry red wine. However, there is very limited data so far concerning the volatile composition of commercial Amarone wines, which also undergo a cask aging of 2-4 years before release.

Study the influence of sample preparation methods on the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profiling for fermentative beverages by GCxGC-TOFMS analysis. METHODS: Five common sample preparation methods were tested on pooled red wine, white wine, cider, and beer. Studied methods were DHS, Liquid-liquid extraction, mSBSE, SPE and SPME. VOCs were analyzed by GCxGC-TOFMS followed by data analysis with ChromaTOF. RESULTS: The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profiling results were very dependent on the sample preparation methods.

Wine grapes exposed to wildfire smoke have resulted in wines with burnt and ashy sensory characteristics¹, that are undesirable qualities in wine. In extreme wildfire events, this can lead to total loss of grape crop. Currently there are no effective solutions in the market to prevent the uptake of smoke compounds into grapes. In this study, previously developed innovative film coatings were tested to analyze their effectiveness in reducing smoke phenol absorption². Four different cellulose nanofiber-based film types were investigated.

45 non irrigated vineyards distributed in the DO (Denomination) Pla i Llevant de Mallorca and the DO Binissalem Mallorca were used to investigate the characteristics of production and quality and their relationships certain environmental factors and cultural practices. The grape varieties investigated are autochthonous to the island of Mallorca, Manto Negro and Callet as red and Prensal Blanc as white. All plants were measured for four consecutive years in the main production and quality parameters. Among the environmental factors, the type of soil has been studied, more specifically its water retention capacity, the planting density, the age of the vineyard and the level of viral infection. The presence or absence of virus seems to have no effect on any component studied in the varieties studied. For the white variety Prensal Blanc age is negatively correlated with production and the number of bunches, nevertheless it does not cause any effect on the required quality parameters. However, for the red varieties Callet and Manto Negro, the age of the plantation is the variable that best correlates with the quality parameters, therefore the old vines should be the object of preservation by the viticulturists and winemakers in order to guarantee its contribution to the quality of the wines made with these varieties.