Genetic variation among wild grapes native to Japan

Viticulture’s adaptation to the harmful effects of climate change is globally the biggest challenge of the near future. Short, extremely intensive rainfalls and longer periods of drought are getting more frequent in the Tokaj Wine Region, where the majority of the vineyards are cultivated on steep slopes. Hence, erosion has high risk, especially when combined with the loess-based soils on about ten percent of the region. The environmentally beneficial cover crop and mulch usage can effectively reduce the risk of erosion, according to research done by the Tokaj Wine Region Research Institute of Viticulture and Oenology.

Several Uruguayan wineries have begun to produce wines with minimal intervention, to increase the sustainability of their vineyards and wines. These wines are characterized by the minimum intervention in the management of the vineyard, its harvest, vinification, conservation and aging1,2. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is not used or is used in reduced doses, although chitosan can be substituted or supplemented1. The objective of this research is to evaluate SO2 reduction or replacement options adapted to the production of Tannat red wines with minimal intervention. Vinification of the Tannat grapes with autochthonous yeasts (LN) was carried out during the 2023 vintage.

The mechanization of pruning and harvesting in vineyards has increased the risk of soil compaction. To reclaim soil properties or avoid this degradation process, it is crucial to properly manage the soil organic matter, and the application of compost derived from the vines themselves is a strategy to achieve this. The objective of this study was to evaluate the properties of soil treated with different doses of compost applied both on the vine row and the inter rows of a Vitis vinifera crop.

Antagonistic yeasts applied to wine grapes must be compatible with the thereafter winemaking process, avoiding competition with the fermentative Saccharomyces cerevisiae or affecting wine flavour. Therefore, fifteen epiphytic yeasts (6 Metschnikowia sp., 6 Hanseniaspora uvarum, 3 Starmerella bacillaris) previously selected for its biocontrol ability against Alternaria on wine grapes were evaluate for possible competition with S. cerevisiae by the Niche Overlap Index (NOI) employing YNB agar media with 10 mM of 17 different carbonate sources present in wine grapes (proline, asparagine, alanine, glutamic acid, tirosine, arginine, lisine, methionine, glicine, malic acid, tartaric acid, fructose, melibiose, raffinose, rhamnose, sucrose, glucose).

Cover cropping in vineyard is a sustainable and alternative soil management system to conventional tillage that is gaining more and more importance among winegrowers and is being promoted, among other organizations, by the European Union through the eco-schemes of the Common Agricultural Policy.
However, the use of cover crops in Mediterranean viticultural environments is conditioned, to a large extent, by the availability of irrigation water which, in a context of global warming like the one we are experiencing, must be adjusted to savings strategies, supplying to the vine only what it needs in each moment.