Impact of polyclonal selection for abiotic stress tolerance on the yield and must quality traits of grapevine varieties

Grapevine cultivation is threatened by the global warming, which combines high temperatures and reduced rainfall, impacting in wine quality and even plant survival. Breeding for varieties resilient to these challenges must address plant traits such as tolerance to supraoptimal temperatures and optimized water use efficiency while minimizing productivity and quality losses. Stomatal abundance (SA) determines the maximum leaf potential for transpiration and thus water loss and cooling. Since SA results from a developmental process during leaf emergence and growth, knowledge on the genetic control of this process would provide specific targets for modification.

Given the impact of climate change on viticulture in the Region of Murcia, this paper attempts to expose the possibility of using genetic improvement as a dilemma that allows access to new descendant varieties of the autochthonous variety Monastrell crossed with varieties such as Syrah and Cabernet. Sauvignon, thus obtaining hybrids (Gebas and Myrtia). In it, the chromatic parameters and the phenolic profile of the new varieties will be compared with those obtained by the Monastrell variety at two moments during maturation (12 and 14 º Baumé), to check if the results would allow earlier harvests in these new varieties thus avoiding the decoupling between phenolic and technological maturity, while improving the quality of grapes and wines.

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.

One of the most important effects of climate change in wine-growing areas is the advance of phenological stages, especially concerning early berry ripening. In the hottest seasons, this results in a lack of synchrony between sugar and phenolic ripeness. In order to cope with this fact, a general effort is being made by researchers and growers aiming at delaying ripening through different strategies. One of the proposed approaches is the application of elicitors. This study aims to assess the effect at the transcriptomic level of application of three elicitors (Vitalfit, Fruitel, and Protone) in Tempranillo.

Wine acidity is a parameter of great importance that influences different quality factors of the product such as biological stability or organoleptic characteristics. In the current context of climate change, which gives rise to wines with higher levels of ethanol and lower acidity, the biological acidification with yeast species such as Lachancea thermotolerans could be a solution.
In this work, the effect of the inoculation of different L. thermotolerans on the acidity of wine was studied.