Qualitative and productive characterization of a minority variety: ‘Branco lexítimo’ in DO Ribeira Sacra (Spain)

Every year, viticulture is facing several outbreaks caused by established diseases, such as downy mildew and grey mould, which possess different life cycles and modes of infection. To cope with these different aggressors, grapevine must recognize them and arm itself with an arsenal of defense strategies.
The regulation of secondary metabolites is one of the first reactions of plants upon pathogen challenge. Their rapid biosynthesis can highly contribute to strengthen the defense mechanisms allowing the plant to adapt, defend and survive.

The purpose of the present study was to understand the overall concept of an aged dry white wine using a descriptive mental questionnaire. A total of 680 worldwide participants, grouped according to their involvement in the wine business, replied to an online questionnaire to characterize the sensory analytical and synthetic descriptors of an aged dry white wine. The descriptors were selected using a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) approach concerning wine colour, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and global appreciation.

In the context of climate change with increasing evaporative demand, understanding the water use behavior of different grapevine cultivars is of critical importance. Carbon isotope discrimination (δ13C) measurements in wine provide a precise and integrated assessment of the water status of the vines during the sugar accumulation period in grape berries. When collected over multiple vintages on different cultivars, δ13C measurements can also provide insights into the effects of genotype on water use efficiency.

Over the last years, due to climate change, several red wines, such as the Sangiovese wines, have been often subjected to loss of clarity due to the formation of deposits of fine needle-shaped crystals. This phenomenon turned out to be due to an excess of quercetin (Q) and its glycosides (Q-Gs) in wines. These compounds are synthesized to a large extent when grapes are excessively exposed to UVB radiations in vineyards[1]. Unfortunately, it is not easy to predict the degree of Q precipitation because its solubility strongly depends on the wine and matrix composition[2].

This study examines how people who consume wine in cans are perceived in terms of their basic personality characteristics, helps understand the role of cultural background on people’s perception, and verify the role played by the consumption context on the perception. Our hypothesis is that prejudice and negative attitudes towards wine in cans might exert a negative effect on the evaluation of people who consume canned wine. To evaluate this hypothesis, the consumption of wine in cans was evoked in four different contexts of use during outdoor leisure activity (beach resort, ski resort, desert safari, and party). In order to examine the effect of culture on subject’s response we use participants from Switzerland, a country where three different cultures, associated with three different languages, cohabit.