Characterization of a Sémillon clonal population: exploring genetic diversity, metabolomic profiles, and phenotypic variations

Global warming is accelerating the technological ripening of the grape, with a loss of acidity, which requires that vineyard management can delay ripening to avoid it. The source-sink relation is essential for grape ripening, since it affects the distribution of photosynthates and substances derived from plant metabolism. A work is proposed to know the response of the vineyard to the drastic reduction of the foliar surface by trim down the shoots in cv.

Domesticated grapes are assumed to have originated in the Middle East. However, a considerable number of species are native in East Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan as well. Evidence suggests that a total of seven species and eight varieties have been found to be native to Japan. A wide level variation in morphology, genetic and fruit composition exist in wild grape native to Japan.

In Chile there is a dry farming area known as a traditional wine region, where varieties brought by the Spanish conquerors still persist. These varieties, in general, are cultivated under traditional systems, with low use of technical and economic resources, and low profitability for their grapes and wines. In this region, as in other wine grape growing areas, climatic conditions have changed significantly in recent decades. In particular, the occurrence of spring frosts, when bud break has already begun, have generated significant losses for these growers.

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.

Condensed grape tannins play a major role in the organoleptic properties and quality of red wine. Recently, a new sub-family of macrocyclic condensed tannins has been identified in red wine and named “crown tannins”. Indeed, the first compound of the family identified and characterised by NMR was the crown procyanidin tetramer which is composed of a macrocyclic structure composed of four (-)-epicatechins link together by B-type interflavanoid linkage in the following an alternative sequences of C4-C8 and C4-C6 linkage. The 3D structure of this unusual crown procyanidin family reveals a central cavity in the molecule [1].