Limiting magnesium availability: a novel approach to managing brettanomyces spoilage in winemaking

Drought is one of the main challenges for viticulture in the context of global change. The choice of rootstock could be leveraged for vineyard adaptation to drought as we can improve plant performance without modifying the scion variety. However, most of the existing rootstocks, selected over a century ago, have a narrow genetic background which could compromise their adaptive potential.

The application of remote and proximal sensing is a fast and efficient method to monitor grapevine vegetative and physiological parameters and is considered valuable to derive information on associated yield and quality traits in the vineyard. Further details can be obtained by the application of molecular analysis at the gene expression level aiming at elucidating how pathways controlling the formation of different grape quality traits are influenced by spatial variability. This work aims at evaluating intra-vineyard variability in grape composition at harvest and at comparing this with remotely sensed canopy vegetation data and molecular-based approaches.

In recent years, Mediterranean regions are being affected by marked climate changes, primarily characterized by reduced precipitation, greater concurrence of temperature extremes and drought during the growing season, and increased inter-annual variability in temperatures and rainfall. Generally, high-quality red wines need moderate water deficit. Hence, irrigation may be needed to avoid severe vine water stress occurring in some vintages and soils with low holding capacity. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of soil recharge irrigation in pre-sprouting and summer irrigation every week (30 % ETO) from the pea size state until the end of ripening (RP) compared to exclusively summer irrigation every week (R) in the same way that RP, on must volatile composition at harvest.

The vineyard has experienced a general increase in yields mainly due to the elevated use of technology which caused a quality loss of grapes in more than one case. A large percentage of the Spanish vineyard is covered by a Denomination of Origin which limits the productive level of the vineyards as one of its regulations. The maximum production limit is a variable characteristic of each vineyard and is not usually regulated by agronomic criteria, and this explains the fact that each vineyard can reach high quality with a totally different yield from that set by the Denomination of Origin.

Light is a fundamental part at sales points which influences in the conservation of wines, particularly in those that are sold in transparent glass bottles such as rosé wines and increasingly white wines. The photochemical effect known as “light-struck taste” can cause changes in the aromatic characteristics of the wine. This “light-struck taste” is due to reactions triggered by the photochemical sensitivity of riboflavin (RBF).