GiESCO 2019 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 GiESCO 9 Application of a fluorescence-based method to evaluate the ripening process and quality of Pinot Blanc grape

Application of a fluorescence-based method to evaluate the ripening process and quality of Pinot Blanc grape

Abstract

Context and purpose of the study – The chemical composition of grape berries at harvest is one of the most important factors that should be considered to produce high quality wines. Among the different chemical classes which characterize the grape juice, the polyphenolic compound, such as flavonoids, contribute to the final taste and color of wines. Recently, an innovative non-destructive method, based on chlorophyll fluorescence, was developed to estimate the phenolic maturity of red grape varieties through the evaluation of anthocyanins accumulated in the berry skin. To date, only few data are available about the application of this method on white grape varieties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the quality and the ripening process of Pinot blanc grape by a non-destructive fluorescence-based sensor.

Material and methods – The study was performed on two vineyards of cv. Pinot blanc located in the Adige Valley (South Tyrol, Bolzano), in two consecutive vintages. The vineyard differed in the row orientation, east-west or north-south, and then on the sun light exposure of the grape-bunches. The grape phenolic maturity was assessed on intact berries by six measurements from bunch closure to harvest time. In each vineyard, 25 grape-bunches per row sides were flashed by Multiplex® 3.6 (Force-A, Orsay, France), for a total of 3 rows and 150 grape-bunches/measurement. The instrument indices of chlorophyll (SFR_R) and flavonols (FLAV_UV) were considered. Standard grape maturity tests were performed to assess total soluble solids (TSS) and total acidity content of the grape juice by spectroscopic method. At maturity the grapes were processed with a standard vinification protocol for white wines. Total polyphenolic content of wines was determined by a spectrophotometric analysis.

Results – A linear decrease of SFR_R index in the berry-skin during the grape ripening period was recorded. Interestingly, SFR_R values negative correlated with the TTS accumulation in Pinot blanc berries. On the other side, positive correlations between SFR_R and titratable acidity, malic acid and tartaric acid content, were observed. The FLAV_UV index showed an increasing linear trend during the grape ripening period. At harvest, significant difference in FLAV_UV index between the two vineyards was observed. Looking more deeply inside the data, the berry-skin FLAV_UV index significantly differed among the four sun-light expositions, with greater values recorded for the grape-bunches located in south and east sides of the vineyard rows. These results are in accordance with the available literature on the role flavonols as sun-burn protection compounds. Interestingly, the total polyphenolic content of the produced wines showed a positive correlation with the final FLAV_UV values measured in the berry-skin. In conclusion, the Multiplex® indices could improve precision viticulture strategies, such as the implementation of precision harvest practices. Indeed, SFR_R index could be used to indirectly evaluate the whole ripening process of white grapes in term of grape sugar content and acidity, while FLAV_UV could provide useful indications to winemakers about taste of final product. Future studies will be necessary to better correlate the berry-skin FLAV_UV values and the flavours of white wine.

DOI:

Publication date: September 29, 2023

Issue: GiESCO 2019

Type: Poster

Authors

Selena TOMADA1*, Florian PICHLER1, Julia MARTINELLI1, Giovanni AGATI2, Valentina LAZAZZARA3, Martin ZEJFART4, Fenja HINZ3, Ulrich PEDRI4, Peter ROBATSCHER3, Florian HAAS1

1 Department of Viticulture, Laimburg Research Centre, BZ, Italy
2 Istituto di Fisica Applicata ‘Nello Carrara’, CNR, FI, Italy
3 Laboratory for Flavours and Metabolites, Laimburg Research Centre, BZ, Italy
4 Department of Enology, Laimburg Research Centre, BZ, Italy

Contact the author

Keywords

chlorophyll, flavonols, grape, Multiplex®, quality, Pinot blanc.

Tags

GiESCO | GiESCO 2019 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Influence of grapevine rootstock/scion combination on rhizosphere and root endophytic microbiomes

Soil is a reservoir of microorganisms playing important roles in biogeochemical cycles and interacting with plants whether in the rhizosphere or in the root endosphere. The composition of the microbial communities thus impacts the plant health. Rhizodeposits (such as sugar, organic and amino acids, secondary metabolites, dead root cells …) are released by the roots and influence the communities of rhizospheric microorganisms, acting as signaling compounds or carbon sources for microbes. The composition of root exudates varies depending on several factors including genotypes. As most of the cultivated grapevines worldwide are grafted plants, the aim of this study was to explore the influence of rootstock and scion genotypes on the microbial communities of the rhizosphere and the root endosphere. The work was conducted in the GreffAdapt plot (55 rootstocks x 5 scions), in which the 275 combinations have been planted into 3 blocks designed according to the soil resistivity. Samples of roots and rhizosphere of 10 scion x rootstock combinations were first collected in May among the blocks 2 and 3. The quantities of bacteria, fungi and archaea have been assessed in the rhizosphere by quantitative PCR, and by cultivable methods for bacteria and fungi. The communities of bacteria, fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was analyzed by Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene, ITS and 28S rRNA gene, respectively. The level of mycorrhization was also evaluated using black ink coloration of newly formed roots harvested in October. The level of bacteria, fungi and archaea was dependent on rootstock and scion genotypes. A block effect was observed, suggesting that the soil characteristics strongly influenced the microorganisms from the rhizosphere and root endosphere. High-throughput sequencing of the different target genes showed different communities of bacteria, fungi and AMF associated with the scion x rootstock combinations. Finally, all the combinations were naturally mycorrhized. The root mycorrhization intensity was influenced by the rootstock genotype, but not by the scion one. Altogether, these results suggest that both rootstock and scion genotypes influence the rhizosphere and root endophytic microbiomes. It would be interesting to analyze the biochemical composition of the rhizodeposition of these genotypes for a better understanding of the processes involved in the modulation of these microbiomes. Moreover, crossing our data with the plant agronomic characteristics could provide insights into their roles on plant fitness.

Influence of weather and climatic conditions on the viticultural production in Croatia

The research includes an analysis of the impact of weather conditions on phenological development of the vine and grape quality, through monitoring of four experimental cultivars (Chardonnay, Graševina, Merlot and Plavac mali) over two production years. In each experimental vineyard, which were evenly distributed throughout the regions of Slavonia and The Croatian Danube, Croatian Uplands,

Grapevine xylem embolism resistance spectrum reveals which varieties have a lower mortality risk in a future dry climate

Wine growing regions have recently faced intense and frequent droughts that have led to substantial economical losses, and the maintenance of grapevine productivity under warmer and drier climate will rely notably on planting drought-resistant cultivars. Given that plant growth and yield depend on water transport efficiency and maintenance of photosynthesis, thus on the preservation of the vascular system integrity during drought, a better understanding of drought-related hydraulic traits that have a significant impact on physiological processes is urgently needed. We have worked towards this end by assessing vulnerability to xylem embolism in 30 grapevine commercial varieties encompassing red and white Vitis vinifera varieties, hybrid varieties characterized by a polygenic resistance for powdery and downy mildew, and commonly used rootstocks. These analyses further allowed a global assessment of wine regions with respect to their varietal diversity and resulting vulnerability to stem embolism. Hybrid cultivars displayed the highest vulnerability to embolism, while rootstocks showed the greatest resistance. Significant variability also arose among Vitis vinifera varieties, with Ψ12 and Ψ50 values ranging from -0.4 to -2.7 MPa and from -1.8 to -3.4 MPa, respectively. Cabernet franc, Chardonnay and Ugni blanc featured among the most vulnerable varieties while Pinot noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon ranked among the most resistant. In consequence, wine regions bearing a significant proportion of vulnerable varieties, such as Poitou-Charentes, France and Marlborough, New Zealand, turned out to be at greater risk under drought. These results highlight that grapevine varieties may not respond equally to warmer and drier conditions, outlining the importance to consider hydraulic traits associated with plant drought tolerance into breeding programmes and modeling simulations of grapevine yield maintenance under severe drought. They finally represent a step forward to advise the wine industry about which varieties and regions would have the lowest risk of drought-induced mortality under climate change.

VINIoT – Precision viticulture service

The project VINIoT pursues the creation of a new technological vineyard monitoring service, which will allow companies in the wine sector in the SUDOE space to monitor plantations in real time and remotely at various levels of precision. The system is based on spectral images and an IoT architecture that allows assessing parameters of interest viticulture and the collection of data at a precise scale (level of grape, plant, plot or vineyard) will be designed. In France, three subjects were specifically developed: evaluation of maturity, of water stress, and detection of flavescence dorée. For the evaluation of maturity, it has been decided first to work at the berry scale in the laboratory, then at the bunch scale and finally in the vineyard. The acquisition of the spectral hyperstal image as well as the reference analyzes to measure the maturity, were carried out in the laboratory after harvesting the berries in a maturity monitoring context. This work focuses on a case study to predict sugar content of three different grape varieties: Syrah, Fer Servadou and Mauzac. A robust method called Roboost-PLSR, developed in the framework of this work (Courand et al., 2022), to improve prediction model performance was applied on spectra after the acquirement of hyperspectral images. Regarding the evaluation of water stress, to work with a significant variability in terms of water status, it has been worked first with potted plants under 2 different water regimes. The facilities have allowed the supervision of irrigation and micro-climatic conditions. The regression models on agronomic variables (stomatal conductance, water potential, …) are studied. To detect flavescence dorée, the experimental plan has consisted of work at leaf scale in the laboratory first, and then in the field. To detect the disease from hyper-spectral imaging, a combination of multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) and factorial discriminant analysis (FDA) was proposed. This strategy proved the potential towards the discrimination of healthy and infected leaves by flavescence dorée based on the use of hyperspectral images (Mas Garcia et al., 2021).

Local adaptation tools to ensure the viticultural sustainability in a changing climate

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...