Comparison of ancestral and traditional methods in the elaboration of sparkling wines; preliminary results

The interest in sustainable and ecologic agricultural practices in grapevine has grown significantly in recent years in the context of ecological transition. Organic mulches are treatments that support the circular economy and positively affect the soil and the plant. They are an alternative to herbicides and other conventional practices since they may influence soil moisture, erosion, structure and weed control. However, their effects on the soil and must microbiota remain unknown.

Several Eurasian wild grapevine populations were found along Extremadura region (southwestern Spain). For conservation and study, one individual from four different populations (named L1, L2, L5 and L6) was vegetatively propagated and planted at Instituto de Investigaciones Agrarias Finca La Orden (CICYTEX), Badajoz. The aim of the present work was to characterize those conserved individuals from four different populations based on both an ampelographic description and a molecular analysis. Three vines per individual were studied.

Grapevine (Vitis spp.) is greatly influenced by climatic conditions and its economic value is therefore directly linked to environmental factors. Among these factors, temperature plays a critical role in vine phenology and fruit composition. In such conditions, elucidating the mechanisms employed by the vine to cope with heat waves becomes urgent. For the past few years, our research team has been producing molecular and metabolic data to highlight the molecular players involved in the response of the vine and the fruit to high temperatures [1]. Some of these temperature-sensitive genes are currently undergoing characterization using transgenesis approaches coupled or not with genome editing, taking advantage of the Microvine genotype [2].

The global warming phenomenon involves the frequency of extreme meteorological events accompanied by a change in rainfall distribution. Irrigation frequency (IF) affects the spatial and temporal soil water distribution but its effects on the phenolic composition of the grape have been scarcely studied. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of four deficit irrigation frequencies of 30 % ETo: one irrigation per day (T01), two irrigations per week (T03), one irrigation per week (T07) and one irrigation every two weeks (T15) on berry phenolic composition at harvest.

Performing accurate vineyard yield estimation is of upmost importance as it provides important benefits to the whole vine and wine industry. Recently, image-analysis approaches have been explored to address this issue however this approach has as main challenge the bunch occlusion, mostly by vegetation but also by neighboring bunches. The present work aims at assessing the magnitude of bunch occlusion by neighboring bunches and to evaluate its dependency on a selection of vegetative and reproductive vine parameters assessed at fruiting zone. Forty vine segments (1 m) of two vineyard plots of the white cultivars ‘Alvarinho’ and ‘Arinto’ were assessed for vegetative and reproductive features at fruiting zone and imaged with a 2D camera.