Piloting grape ripening in a global warming scenario: feasible techniques are available

Rio grande do sul is the main grape producing state in Brazil, with the largest wine-growing area, responsible by 90% of the national production of wines and grape juices. Serra Gaúcha is the main vitivinicultural region, where around 15% of the area is destined to produce wines from vitis vinifera L. grapes. This region presents high rainfall during the grape maturation cycle, a factor that leads to great risk of attacks by fungal pathogens. the use of resistant varieties can reduce the cost and quantity of spraying, improving wine quality, focusing on a sustainable vitiviniculture.

Babić is a Croatian native grapevine variety grown in the Coastal region, mainly in the Šibenik and Primošten areas, famous for high quality red wines. The region is known for its warm Mediterranean climate and karst relief. Vineyards are found on the hillsides of varying slopes and exposition usually giving low yields of exceptional quality.

A solid feature of climate change is that the frequency and severity of weather extremes are increasing. Ranking European countries for the number of crop failures related to extreme events reports France on top followed by Italy and Spain (COM 2021).

The quality of a wine is largely related to the balance between its sourness, bitterness and sweetness. Recently, molecules coming from grapes have been showed to notably contribute to sweet taste of dry wines. To study the viticultural and oenological parameters likely to affect their concentration, their quantification appears of high interest and subsequently requires powerful analytical techniques. Therefore, a new method using liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) was developed and validated to quantify epi-DPA-3′-O-β-glucopyranoside acid (epi-DPA-G) and astilbin, sweet molecules identified in wine. Three gradients were tested on five different C18 columns (Hypersil Gold, HSS T3, BEH, Syncronis and Kinetex).

In the province of Frosinone from 1850 they are cultivated in some zones wine grape of French origin like Merlot, Cabernet franc Cabernet sauvignon, Sirah, Pinot noir. The insertion of these varieties was the work of Pasquale Visocchi in the great company of family “Fratelli Visocchi Proprietari” (F. V.P.).