Application of DEXI PM Vigne sustainability tool to the assessment of alternative vineyard protection strategies

Improving our knowledge on biotic and abiotic factors that influence the composition of the grapevine mycobiome is of great agricultural significance, due to potential effects on plant health, productivity, and wine characteristics. Among the various environmental factors affecting the morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular attributes of grapevine, drought stress is one of the most severe, becoming increasingly an issue worldwide.

Climate change is increasing water needs in most of the wine growing regions while reducing the availability and quality of water resources for irrigation. In this context, the sustainability of Mediterranean viticulture depends on grapevine responses to the combinations of water and salt stress. With this aim, this work studies the effects of deficit irrigation and salinity on the physiology of the Tempranillo cultivar (Vitis vinifera L.) grafted onto a drought and salinity tolerant rootstock (1103 Paulsen).

Ultra-High Pressure Homogenization (UHPH) is an innovative, efficient and non-thermal technology that can be applied at different stages in winemaking in order to reduce or avoid the use of sulphites. During 2022 vintage, a batch of Xarel·lo must was processed by UHPH at 300 MPa with an inlet temperature (Ti) of 4 ºC. In order to verify the influence of the UHPH treatment in wine characteristics, alcoholic fermentations with this must (UHPH) were carried out and compared with a control batch (without SO2 addition (C)) and a sulphited batch, in which 60 mg/L of total SO2 (SO2) were added.

The characterization of chemical compounds related with quality of grape must and wine is relevant for the viticulture and enology fields. Analytical methods used for these analyses require expensive instrumentation as well as a long sample preparation processes and the use of chemical solvents. On the other hand, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technique is a simple, fast and non-destructive method for the detection of chemical composition showing a fingerprint of the sample. It has been reported the potential of NIR spectroscopy to measure some enological parameters such as alcohol content, pH, organic acids, glycerol, reducing sugars and phenolic compounds.

Soil is important in the carbon cycle and the dynamics of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O). Key soil characteristics, such as organic matter content, texture, structure, pH and microbial activity, play a determining role in GHG emissions[1]. The objective of the study is to delimit different types of soil, with different soil management and to be able to verify the differences in CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions. The study was carried out in a vineyard of Bodegas Campo Viejo in Logroño (La Rioja), whose plant material is Vitis vinifera L. cv. Tempranillo.