Impact of climate on berry weight dynamics of a wide range of Vitis vinifera cultivars 

Botrytis cinerea, a fungal pathogen commonly known as grey mold, which under specific climatic conditions can develop into a desirable form known as noble rot. In this process the fungus penetrates the grape skin, allowing water evaporation and concentration of sugars and flavors, while profoundly affects the metabolite composition of grapes, leading to the production of unique and desirable compounds in the resulting wines. The result is a unique and complex wine with a luscious sweetness, heightened aromatics, and a distinct character.

Spain is the country with the largest wine-producing area in the EU and its productivity is largely controlled applying fungicides. However, residues of these compounds can move and contaminate surface and groundwater. The objective of this work was to evaluate the capacity of bioadsorbents from different origin to adsorb and immobilize tetraconazole by themselves or when applied as organic soil amendment, and to prevent soil and water contamination by this fungicide. The adsorption of tetraconazole by 3 organic residues: spent mushroom substrate (SMS), green compost (GC) and vine pruning sawdust (VP), as well as by vineyard soils unamended and amended individually with these residues at 1.5% (w/w) was evaluated using the batch equilibrium technique.

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.

The wine industry produces an enormous amount of waste every year. A wider inclusion of disregarded by-products in the human diet or its use as a source of bioactive compounds is a good strategy for reducing waste. It will not only introduce an added value to a waste product but also come upon the European Union and United Nations’ demands towards more sustainable agricultural approaches and circular economy.

In order to avoid the loss of grapevine intra-varietal diversity of DOCa Rioja grape varieties, Regional Government of La Rioja established a germplasm bank with more than 1.600 accessions, whose origin lies in the prospecting and sampling of ancient vineyards located throughout the whole region. 30 clones of Tempranillo and 13 clones of Graciano were preselected and multiplied in a new vineyard for further observations. The aim of this work is to describe the first results from the physiological characterization by an optical sensor of these preselected clones, which constitute the base of a new clonal selection that aims to increase the range of available certified clones and to improve the adaptation of these varieties to future objectives and environmental conditions.