Biotype diversity within the autochthonous ‘Bobal’ grapevine variety

Soil is important in the carbon cycle and the dynamics of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O). Key soil characteristics, such as organic matter content, texture, structure, pH and microbial activity, play a determining role in GHG emissions[1]. The objective of the study is to delimit different types of soil, with different soil management and to be able to verify the differences in CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions. The study was carried out in a vineyard of Bodegas Campo Viejo in Logroño (La Rioja), whose plant material is Vitis vinifera L. cv. Tempranillo.

The use of cover crops under the vines might be an alternative to the use of herbicides or tillage, improving grapevine quality and soil characteristics. The aim of this research was to study the implications of different management strategies of the soil under the vines (herbicide, cultivation or cover crops) on grapevine growth, water and nutritional status, gas exchange parameters and belowground microbial communities.
The experimental design consisted in 4 treatments applied on 35L-potted Tempranillo vegetative grapevines with 10 replicates each grown in an open-top greenhouse in 2022 and 2023. Treatments included two cover crop species (Trifolium fragiferum and Bromus repens), herbicide (glyphosate al 36%) and an untreated control.

Global changes and sustainability challenge researchers in saving water and nutrients. The response of woody crops, which can be forced at facing more drought events during their life, is particularly important. Vitis vinifera can be an important model for its relevance in countries subjected to climate changes and its breeding, requiring cuttings plantation and strong pruning.

The wine closure industry is mainly divided into three categories: screw caps, synthetic closures, and cork-based closures. Among this latter, microagglomerated cork stoppers treated with supercritical CO2 are now widely used, especially to avoid cork taint contaminations[1]. They are designed with cork granules obtained from cork offcuts of the punching process during the natural cork stoppers production. A previous study[2] showed that these stoppers released fewer polyphenols in 12 % (v/v) hydroalcoholic solution than natural cork stoppers.

Climate change will increase the frequency of water deficit situation in some European regions, by the increase of the evapotranspiration and the reduction of rainfalls during the growing cycle. This requires finding ways of adaptation, including the use of plant material which is more tolerant to drought. In addition to the varieties used as scions that result in the typicality of wines, rootstocks constitute a relevant way of adaptation to more stressful environmental conditions.