Long-lasting flavour perception of wines treated with oenological additives considering the individual PROP taste-phenotype

This study aimed to validate a protocol and compare metrics for evaluating drought tolerance in two Vitis vinifera grapevine cultivars under field conditions. Various metrics were calculated to represent the physiological responses of plants to progressive water deficit. Data were collected from Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay plants subjected to three irrigation levels during the 2022-2023 season, along with data from three previous seasons. Hydro-escape areas were used to assess the plant’s ability to reduce water potential with decreasing soil water availability.

The Agenda 2030 of the EU sets out the main guidelines for transitioning towards a resilient, green and safe economy. To this regard, the wine sector is experiencing an ecological transition in different ways such as increasing the production of ecological crops, or promoting the production of wines under more environmental-friendly and healthier (i.e., lower levels of SO2) products. These alternatives to conventional production are a smaller proportion of wines, in constant growth and demand, and follow alternative and minority practices, which range from sustainable to deeply philosophical thoughts. Among these methods there are organic, biodynamic and, more recently, natural wines.

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.

In the context of global change, the environmental conditions are expected to be more stressful for viticulture. The choice of the rootstock may play a crucial role to improve the adaptation of viticulture to new biotic and abiotic threats (Ollat et al., 2016). However, the selection of interesting traits in rootstock breeding programs is complex because of the combination of multiple targets in a same ideotype. In this sense, the integration of studies about the genetic architecture for desired biotic and abiotic response traits allow us to identify genomic regions to combine and those with interesting pleiotropic effects.

Grapevine cultivation is threatened by the global warming, which combines high temperatures and reduced rainfall, impacting in wine quality and even plant survival. Breeding for varieties resilient to these challenges must address plant traits such as tolerance to supraoptimal temperatures and optimized water use efficiency while minimizing productivity and quality losses. Stomatal abundance (SA) determines the maximum leaf potential for transpiration and thus water loss and cooling. Since SA results from a developmental process during leaf emergence and growth, knowledge on the genetic control of this process would provide specific targets for modification.