Stomatal abundance in grapevine: developmental genes, genotypic variation, and physiology

Top quality sparkling wines (SW) are mostly produced using the traditional method that implies a second fermentation into the bottle[1]. That is the case of sparkling wines of reputed AOC such as Champagne, Cava or Franciacorta. However, it seems that the first SW was elaborated using the ancestral method in which only one fermentation takes place[2]. That is the case of the classical SW from the AOC Blanquette de Limoux[3]. In both cases, SW age in the bottle during some time in contact with lees favoring yeast’s autolysis[4]. There is a lot of information about traditional method but only few exists about ancestral method. The aim of this work was to compare SW made by the ancestral method with SW made by the traditional method.

In the production of sparkling wines, during the second fermentation, mannoproteins are released by yeast autolysis, which affect the quality of the wines. The effect of mannoproteins has been extensively studied, and may affect aroma and foam quality. However, there are no studies on the effect of other polysaccharides such as those from grapes. Considering the large production of waste from the wine industry, it was proposed to obtain polysaccharide-rich extracts from some of these by-products[1].

The Maule region hosts up to a third of the total area of vineyards in Chile, in an environment where ancient practices inherited from the colonial past coexist with modernity and dynamism that include technified irrigation and fine vines. In the dry land of Maule there is a viticulture that has subsisted with ancient vines and traditions transmitted over generations, and there is little clarity about the origin and classification of the Maule viticulture, giving rise to the use of different concepts as synonyms to describe the ancient, minority, patrimonial or Criollas vines. In order to characterize and protect the ancient material, we studied the genetic diversity of a territorial collection that covers 80% of the communes of the region, prioritizing plants established more than 40-60 years ago.

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.

The projected rise in mean air temperatures together with the frequency, intensity, and length of heat waves in many wine-growing regions worldwide will deeply impact grape berry development and quality. Several studies have been conducted and a large set of molecular data was produced to better understand the impact of high temperatures on grape berry development and metabolism[1]. According to these data, it is highly likely that the metabolomic dynamics could be strongly modulated by heat stress (HS).