Trials with machine harvested sauvignon blanc: the importance of grape transport time and temperature

According to the different concern of the ‘traditional’ and the ‘new’ wine-producing Countries, a variable importance is recognized to the climate/soil and to grapevine cultivars as factors affecting the wine quality. However, the viticultural experience can state that, within each area, climate and soil plays an incontestable role in affecting grape quality, and consequently wine quality, as well as the genetic characteristics of the cultivar.

Understanding vineyard variability to target management strategies, apply inputs efficiently and deliver consistent grape quality to the winery is essential. However, despite inherent vineyard variability, the majority are managed as if they are uniform. VitiCanopy is a simple, grower-friendly tool for precision/digital viticulture that allows users to collect and interpret objective spatial information about vineyard performance. After four years of field and market research, an upgraded VitiCanopy has been created to achieve a more streamlined, technology-assisted vine monitoring tool that provides users with a set of superior new features, which could significantly improve the way users monitor their grapevines. These new features include:
• New user interface
• User authentication
• Batch analysis of multiple images
• Ease the learning curve through enhanced help features
• Reporting via the creation of colour maps that will allow users to assess the spatial differences in canopies within a vineyard.
Use-case examples are presented to demonstrate the quantification and mapping of vineyard variability through objective canopy measurements, ground-truthing of remotely sensed measurements, monitoring of crop conditions, implementation of disease and water management decisions as well as creating a history of each site to forecast quality. This intelligent tool allows users to manage grapevines and make informed management choices to achieve the desired production targets and remain profitable.

Soil physical and chemical properties affect vine nutrition, as indicated by leaf and petiole nutrient content, in a way that may directly impact wine properties.

Accumulation of anthocyanins (Anth) on whole winegrape (Vitis vinifera L.) bunches attached to the vine was monitored by a fluorescence-based sensor (Multiplex) on ‘Aleatico’ and ‘Nero d’Avola’. Different water regimes were applied.

Wine, a sensitive and intricate agricultural product, is being affected by climate change, which accelerates grapevine phenological stages and alters grape composition and ripening. This influences the synthesis of key aroma compounds, shaping wine’s sensory attributes [1]. The complex aroma profile, resulting from compound interactions, presents a metabolomics challenge to identify these indicators and their environmental change responses, which is being addressed using diverse analytical techniques.