«Promitheus» the new greek red wine grape arromatic variety

Analisi sulle zonizzazioni storiche, sulle produzioni tipiche ed originali e sulla “forestazione classica” per impostare innovative zonazioni vitivinicole e dei prodotti tipici, originali attraverso la “Nuova forestazione storica produttiva”. Le recenti ricerche ed attività svolte sulle zonizzazioni storiche, sulle produzioni tipiche ed originali e sulla “forestazione classica” dei Monti Iblei (Ragusa) (I) hanno permesso di rilanciare le produzioni tipiche ed originali vitivinicole in un innovativo programma integrato tra zonazione (“Grande Zonazione”) e “Nuova forestazione storica produttiva” (“Grande Forestazione Produttiva”) di questo importante territorio.

In recent years characterized by hot dry summers, the implementation of innovative irrigation tools in the vineyard represents a crucial challenge to ensure optimal production and to avoid excess of water consumption. It is known that the grapevine reacts to multiple stresses – i.e., high temperatures and wa- ter shortage – through adaptive mechanisms that are detrimental to the yield. Furthermore, this condi- tion is usually aggravated by high solar radiation, which could negatively affect the phenolic composi- tion of the grapes. Therefore, a cooling system has been developed aiming to reduce bunches’ sunburn damage.

Protein instability in wines is challenging, and despite many efforts to find satisfactory alternatives to bentonite, both in terms of stability and quality, the solutions are limited in the wine industry.

Botrytis bunch rot occurrence is one of the most important limitations for the wine industry in humid environments. A positive correlation between grapevine growth and susceptibility to fungal pathogens has been found. In theory the effect of grapevine vegetative growth on bunch rot expression results from direct effects (cluster architecture, nitrogen status among others) and indirect ones (via microclimate). However, a reduction in bunch rot incidence can be achieved in some circumstances without major vine growth reduction. The present study was aimed to test the general hypothesis that bunch rot susceptibility is affected by vine vigor, but other factors associated with grapevine vegetative expression could be even more relevant.

Grapevine is a crop of great economic importance for several countries. The intensification of grapevine production has mostly been sustained by the increasing use of water resources at the expense of the environmental water balance. Moreover, in the last decades, climate change and the consequent expansion of drought have further compromised water availability, making current agricultural systems even more fragile both ecologically and economically. Recently, many research groups have highlighted the important role of endophytes in facilitating plant growth under optimal or stressful conditions. Within the framework of the PRIMA project, we aim to investigate the possible exploitation of the natural endophyte biodiversity as a sustainable tool to make grapevine plants more resilient to water deficit environmental conditions.