Evaluation of Furmint clones in the Tokaj Wine Region

Croatian viticulture is mainly based on native grapevine varieties susceptible to various diseases and pests, which leads to unsustainable use of large amounts of pesticides. The sustainable development of viticulture in the future will only be possible by increasing the resistance of the grapevine through the development of new resistant varieties. Breeding programs have been launched in the leading wine-growing countries to develop resistant varieties possessing high-quality levels. Native cultivars from Croatia are not included in the breeding programs of other countries.

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.

In recent years there has been a growing demand for alternative packaging designs in the food industry focused on diminishing the carbon footprint. Despite the environmental advantages of cans versus bottles, the traditional environment of wine has hindered the establishment of less contaminant containers. In this context, the objective of this study was to understand and generate knowledge about consumers´ perception of canned wines in comparison to bottled wines.

Ultra-High Pressure Homogenization (UHPH) is an innovative, efficient and non-thermal technology that can be applied at different stages in winemaking in order to reduce or avoid the use of sulphites. During 2022 vintage, a batch of Xarel·lo must was processed by UHPH at 300 MPa with an inlet temperature (Ti) of 4 ºC. In order to verify the influence of the UHPH treatment in wine characteristics, alcoholic fermentations with this must (UHPH) were carried out and compared with a control batch (without SO2 addition (C)) and a sulphited batch, in which 60 mg/L of total SO2 (SO2) were added.

Granxa D’Outeiro is a recovered ancient vineyard located in the heart of DOP Ribeiro, where traditional white grapevine varieties are growing under sustainable management. Spontaneous fermentations using grape must from Treixadura, Albariño, Lado, Godello, and Loureira varieties were carried out at experimental winery of Evega. Yeasts were isolated from must and at different stages of fermentation. Those colonies belonging to Saccharomyces cerevisiae were characterized at strain level by mDNA-RFLPs.