Assessing bunch architecture for grapevine yield forecasting by image analysis 

The well-known antifungal and antibiotic molecule, eugenol, is widely spread in various plants including clove, basil and bay. It is also abundant in the hybrid grapevine cultivar (cv) Baco blanc (Vitis vi-nifera x Vitis riparia x Vitis labrusca), created by François Baco (19th century) in the Armagnac region. This study confirmed this cv as highly resistant to Botrytis cinerea by comparing fruit rot incidence and severity with two Vitis vinifera cultivars: Folle Blanche and Ugni Blanc. We have demonstrated the efficiency of eugenol in vitro, by further investigating the effect of small concentrations of eugenol, 3 to 4 ppm (corresponding to IC10), on B. cinerea. By comparing the two major modes of action (direct or volatile antibiosis), the vapour inhibiting effect of eugenol was more powerful. In the skin of Baco blanc berry, the total eugenol concentration reached a maximum at veraison, i.e. 1118 to 1478 μg/kg.

Bud death due to cold damage is a recurrent and major economic issue with Vitis vinifera L. in the Northeastern U.S. winegrowing regions. Primary buds – and sometimes secondary and tertiary buds – are often damaged by fluctuating temperatures in the winter and early spring. To maintain balanced vegetative and reproductive growth of a vine, pruning practices need to be adjusted to account for bud damage. Conventional bud damage assessment requires growers to sample canes/spurs, cut nodes with a razor blade, and then visually assess bud damage. This process is laborious and becomes a major barrier for damage-compensated pruning decision-making, leading to too few live buds per vine and the associated excessive vigor and low yield that result. The overarching goal of this study was to develop an active thermographic system for non-destructive detection of bud damage in the vineyard.

A set of Syrah plots covering a wide range of terroirs distributed in the vineyards of the Rhone Valley and the Mediterranean South is examined through their oenological and sensory characteristics. The multidimensional analysis of data leads to the following groupings: (1) A group of unstructured wines with a simple aromatic profile dominated by fruity-floral notes; they come from plots where the ripening conditions have been disturbed by unfavorable climatic conditions, or an excess harvest.

The introduction into the Italian wine supply chain of the latest generation of fungi-resistant grapevine varieties, endowed with a greater or lesser strong resistance to downy and powdery mildews, represents a valid tool of making viticulture more sustainable, particularly in northern regions of the peninsula, where climatic conditions accentuate the pressure of fungal diseases. However, the affirmation of resistant varieties is a function of their agronomic value, as well as of their oenological and sensorial value. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in detail the sensory potential of the new resistant varieties, in order to understand their real possibility of inclusion in the modern global enological context.

Nitrogen (N) is applied in the vineyard or the winery in wine production systems. The influence of different routes of N application is not well understood.