Early detection project – make a GTD infection visible without disease symptoms

Reduced off-flavour is an organoleptic defect due to an excess of volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) in wine and often happening in Shiraz wines. This off-flavour is a direct consequence of the lack of oxygen flow during winemaking and bottle storage. Therefore, wine closure could have a direct impact on the formation of VSC due to the oxygen transfer rate that can modulate their levels. Even if dimethylsulfide (DMS) contributes to reduced off-flavor, it is also a fruity note enhancer in wine and its evolution during wine ageing is not well understood.

Using viticultural and enological techniques to increase aromatics in white wine is a prized yet challenging technique for commercial wine producers. Equally difficult are challenges encountered in hastening phenolic maturity and thereby increasing color intensity in red wines. The ability to alter organoleptic and visual properties of wines plays a decisive role in vintages in which grapes are not able to reach full maturity, which is seen increasingly more often as a result of climate change. A new, yeast-based product on the viticultural market may give the opportunity to increase sensory properties of finished wines. Manufacturer packaging claims these yeast derivatives intensify wine aromas of white grape varieties, as well as improve phenolic ripeness of red varieties, but the effects of this application have been little researched until now. The current study applied the yeast derivative, according to the manufacture’s instructions, to the leaves of both neutral and aromatic white wine varieties, as well as on structured red wine varieties. Chemical parameters and volatile aromatics were analyzed in grape musts and finished wines, and all wines were subjected to sensory analysis by a tasting panel. Collective results of all analyses showed that the application of the yeast derivative in the vineyard showed no effect across all varieties examined, and did not intensify white wine aromatics, nor improve phenolic ripeness and color intensity in red wine.

Agriculture faces many global warming challenges especially in the Mediterranean region. Many strategies have been proposed in viticulture to manage global warming. Rootstocks are among them since they may affect water uptake and the scion’s performance.
The study conducted in La Rioja, Spain, aimed to investigate the impact of different rootstocks (1103P and 161-49C) on the performance of the Tempranillo grapevine scion over a three-day cycles under drought and extreme conditions, specifically during a heatwave in July 2022, with maximum air temperatures up to 40ºC and average daily temperatures of 29.1ºC.

Far from complicated discussions on the relevant way to define « terroir », this article deals with the social perception that French young adults (aged from 18 to 30) have of this concept and the way it can help them to become wine consumers.

Nowadays, the trend is to reduce the use of chemical inputs in the food sector, including in oenology. One of the inputs widely used in the wine making process are sulfites, for its several properties: antimicrobial and antioxidiant. This use isn’t without consequences on consumer’s health and environment, it can lead for example to allergic reactions and pollution. To limit the addition of chemical inputs, microbial alternatives are used. It consists to inoculate in grape must, a micro-organism able to inhibit the growth of the negative indigenous flora during the phase before the fermentation and to guarantee the sensory qualities of wines.