GiESCO 2019 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 GiESCO 9 GiESCO 2019 9 Late leaf removal does not consistently delay ripeningin semillon in Australia

Late leaf removal does not consistently delay ripeningin semillon in Australia

Abstract

Context and purpose of the study ‐ An advancement of grapevine phenological development has been observed worldwide in the last two decades. In South Australia this phenomenon is even more accentuated since grapevine is often grown in a hot climate. The main consequences are earlier harvests at higher sugar levels which also result in more alcoholic wines. These are deemed undesirable for the Australian wine industry with consumer preferences shifting towards lower alcohol wines. Vineyard practices can be implemented to control and delay ripening. Amongst them, apical late leaf removal has been successfully applied in Europe to delay ripening by up to two weeks in Sangiovese, Aglianico and Riesling. In those studies, no negative effects were observed on grape colour, phenolics and on the carbohydrate storage capacity of the vines. To date, this technique has not been studied in Australia. In this study late leaf removal, apical to the bunch zone was applied to the variety Semillon for four seasons and compared to an untreated control.

Material and methods ‐ The study was carried out for four consecutive seasons starting in 2015 in the variety Semillon at the Waite Campus, University of Adelaide, Australia. Yield, yield components and berry chemistry (total soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH and total phenolics) were all assessed during the study.


Results
‐ Results showed that despite the removal of up to 30% of the vine’s canopy, the technique was effective in delaying ripening only in one of the four seasons. No differences were observed in yield components and berry and wine chemistry between the treated and untreated vines. These results suggest that the technique might not be a feasible strategy to delay ripening in Semillon grown in a hot climate in Australia.

DOI:

Publication date: June 19, 2020

Issue: GIESCO 2019

Type: Article

Authors

Roberta DE BEI (1), Xiaoyi WANG (1), Lukas PAPAGIANNIS (1), Massimiliano COCCO (1,3), Patrick O’BRIEN (1), Marco ZITO (1,4), Jingyun OUYANG (1), Sigfredo FUENTES (5), Matthew GILLIHAM (1,2), Steve TYERMAN (1,2) and Cassandra COLLINS (1)

(1) The University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Waite Research Institute, PMB 1 Glen Osmond, 5064, South Australia. Australia
(2) ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Waite Research Institute, PMB 1 Glen Osmond, 5064, South Australia, Australia
(3) The University of Sassari, Department of Agriculture, Viale Italia 39, 07100, Sassari, Italy
(4) Istituto di Scienze della Vita, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza dei Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy
(5) The University of Melbourne, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences. Parkville, 3010. Victoria, Australia

Contact the author

Keywords

Leaf removal, delayed ripening, canopy management, leaf area, Semillon

Tags

GiESCO 2019 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

The use of pulsed fluorescence detector to quantify free SO2 in wines via the headspace

Pulsed fluorescence SO2 analyzers are widely used for atmospheric monitoring. They are accurate, portable, sensitive and their price are reduced compared to advanced techniques like gas chromatography with sulfur chemiluminescence detection (GC-SCD).

Development of a standardized method for metabolite analysis by NMR to assess wine authenticity

The wine sector generates a considerable amount of wealth but is facing a growing problem of fraud. Wine counterfeiting is one of the oldest and most common cases of food fraud worldwide. Therefore, the authenticity and traceability of wine are major concerns for both the industry and consumers. To address these issues, robust and reliable analysis and control methods are necessary. Several methods have been developed, ranging from simple organoleptic tests to more advanced methodologies such as isotopic techniques or residual radioactivity measurements.

Measurement of trans-membrane and trans-tissue voltages in the Shiraz berry mesocarp

In mid to late ripening, sugar and potassium (K+) accumulation into the berry slows and is eventually completed1. K+ is the most abundant cation in the berry, undertaking important physiological roles.

Non-linear unmixing as an innovative tool to detect vine diseases in UAVs, airborned and satellite images: preliminary results

Vine diseases have a strong impact on vineyards sustainability, which in turns leads to strong economic consequences. Among those diseases, Flavescence dorée spreads quickly and is incurable, which led in France to the setup of a mandatory pest control implying the systematic use of pesticides and the prospection and uprooting of every infected plants. Remote sensing could be a very powerful tool to optimize prospection as it allows to produce quickly accurate maps over large areas. Recent studies have shown that high spatial resolution (10cm/pixel) multispectral images acquired from UAVs allow to map Flavescence dorée in vineyards using leaves discolorations [e.g. Albetis et al., Remote Sensing, 2017].

Wine yeast species show strong inter- and intra-specific variability in their sensitivity to uv-c radiation

While the trend in winemaking is toward reducing the inputs and especially sulphites, the development of While the trend in winemaking is toward reducing the inputs