Effect of climate and soil on phenology and ripening of Vitis vinifera cv Touriga acional in the Dão region

Ellagitannins consist the main extractible phenolic compounds in oak wood.

Defined the new paradigm, the applied philosophy, the methodology, the algorithm of the “Charter for Universal Holistic MetaEthic Sustainability 4.1C17.18”, research has continued to define and write, an
handbook that should be:”Complete Universal Holistic MetaEthics 4.1C of descriptors” of the “Charter for Sustainability Universal Holistic MetaEthic 4.1C17.18” with basic and applicative indexing. In these activities and research we have involved over 3500 Italian and non-Italian people from the research world to simple but educated, enlightened and enlightening citizens and we have analyzed over 180000
entries concerning the descriptors above, which represent the basic “descriptors”.

Amarone is an Italian red wine with worldwide recognition and high added value. In Amarone wines, grapes undergo a withering process before vinification; this leads to a modification in the concentrations of sugars, acids, and secondary metabolites.

Current climate change is increasing inter- and intra-annual variability in atmospheric conditions leading to grapevine phenological shifts as well altered grape ripening and composition at ripeness. This study aims to (i) detect weather anomalies within a long-term time series, (ii) model grape ripening revealing altered traits in time to target specific ripeness thresholds for four Vitis vinifera cultivars, and (iii) establish empirical relationships between ripening and weather anomalies with forecasting purposes. The Day of the Year (DOY) to reach specific grape ripeness targets was determined from time series of sugar concentrations, total acidity and pH collected from a private company in the period 2009-2021 in North-Eastern Italy. Non-linear models for the DOY to reach the specified ripeness thresholds were assessed for model efficiency (EF) and error of prediction (RMSE) in four grapevine cultivars (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Glera and Garganega). For each vintage and cultivar, advances or delays in DOY to target specified ripeness thresholds were assessed with respect to the average ripening dynamics. Long-term meteorological series monitored at ground weather station by means of hourly air temperature and rainfall data were analyzed. Climate statistics were obtained and for each time period (month, bimester, quarter and year) weather anomalies were identified. A linear regression analysis was performed to assess a possible correlation that may exist between ripening and weather anomalies. For each cultivar, ripeness advances or delays expressed in number of days to target the specific ripening threshold were assessed in relation to registered weather anomalies and the specific reference time period in the vintage. Precipitation of the warmest month and spring quarter are key to understanding the effect of climate change on sugar ripeness. Minimum temperatures of May-June bimester and maximum temperatures of spring quarter best correlate with altered total acidity evolution and pH increment during the ripening process, respectively.

The assessment of wine authenticity is of great importance for consumers, producers and regulatory agencies to guarantee the geographical origin of wines and grape variety as well. Since mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy with chemometrics represent a suitable tool to ascertain the wine composition, including features associated with the polyphenolic compounds, the aim of this study was to generate MIR spectra of red wines to be exploited for classification of red wines based on the relationship between grape variety and wine composition. Several multivariate data analyses were used, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Discriminant Analysis (DA), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Soft Intelligent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA).