Using remote sensing to quantify the temporal and spatial effects of extreme weather events in vineyards

The development of fertigation could be a possible solution to adapt PGI Côtes de Gascogne (south-western France) wine production to climate change. The goal would be to limit the negative effects of water stress on yield performance expectation (around 15 tons per hectare) and to make the use of fertilizers more efficient. This study aimed to compare the effects of three strategies of water and minerals supply on grapes and wines qualities. Two fertigation practices were compared to a rainfed control which is the current standard of the local grape growing production. The fertilizers (nitrogen and potassium) were (i) fully brought by irrigation pipe during the season, (ii) partially brought by irrigation pipe and partially on the soil or (iii) fully brought on the soil at the beginning of the season for the non-irrigated control (local standard). The trial was run on cv. Colombard trained on spur pruned with vertical shoot positioning system on a sandy-silty-clay soil over the 2020 vintage which was particularly hot for the region. Moderate to strong water deficit appeared during the growing period of the berries and held on after veraison. Irrigation strategies allowed for maintaining grapevine without water deficit and being significantly different from the control water status. Grapevine with fully or partial fertigation strategies produced 25% more yield mainly due to the increase of the bunch weight. Also, the fully fertigation showed the best ratio between yield and maturity and brought 30% less of fertilizers (both nitrogen and potassium) than the two other strategies. Finally, the analysis of aromatic compounds in Colombard wines, varietal thiols family, showed the same level of concentrations for the 3 treatments, confirming that the yield performance did not impact the aromatic potential in this trial.

This study evaluated the physicochemical parameters of grape juices produced in the serra gaúcha from the 2019 and 2020 harvests. To do this, 43 juice samples were analyzed, and divided into four distinct categories: juices made exclusively from bordô grapes (sb), juices made from bordô and niágara grapes (sbn), juices combining bordô and isabel grapes, and juices made from cuts of several grape varieties.

The production of certified grape planting material is one of the most important problems in the Russian federation. According to the scheme for the production of healthy grape planting material, before being introduced into in vitro culture, the source plants of each variety (Moldova, Augustin, Bart) were individually assessed for typical varietal characteristics and the presence/absence of symptoms of infection by pests.

Tartrates are salts of tartaric acid that occur naturally in wine and lead to sediments that cause consumers’ rejection. There are currently different treatments to prevent its occurrence, with cold stabilization being the most traditional and well-known method.

The Spotted lanternfly (SLF), first detected in the U.S. in 2014, is an invasive phloem-feeding planthopper that poses a growing threat to grape and wine production in the U.S. In Pennsylvania, where it was first detected, reductions in grapevine production and fruit quality have been reported by commercial growers. Recent advances have begun to elucidate how SLF affects grapevine physiology and resource allocation, but no research has identified how SLF affects wine chemical composition and quality. Documented reductions in fruit sugar allocation due to heavy SLF phloem-feeding may have downstream effects on wine fermentation dynamics. Additionally, secondary metabolic responses stimulated by SLF may also influence berry chemical composition. The present study investigated SLF-mediated effects on wine composition through analysis of the volatile composition of wines produced from white- and red-fruited varieties of different Vitis parentage (e.g., Vitis vinifera vs. interspecific hybrids) following prolonged exposure to adult SLF phloem-feeding.