Pacific Northwest wine regions and climates

The Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) of the Pacific Northwest, USA is the world’s largest officially recognized viticultural area with basalt bedrock.

Many of the world’s vineyard regions are located in regions of complex terrain, with the result there is significant local climate variation.

“Ribeira Sacra” is an origin denomination located between the provinces of Lugo and Ourense, in Galicia (northwest of Spain).

Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a phenolic compound present in olives, virgin olive oil and wine. HT has attracted great scientific interest due to its biological activities which have been related with the ortho-dihydroxy conformation in the aromatic ring. In white and red wines, HT has been detected at concentrations ranging from 0.28 to 9.6 mg/L and its occurrence has been closely related with yeast metabolism of aromatic amino acids by Ehrlich pathway during alcoholic fermentation. One of the most promising properties of this compound is the neuroprotective activity against pathological mechanisms related with neurode-generative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Many vineyards implanted in Brazil in the last 20 years are placed under very different natural conditions if compared to Serra Gaúcha, the oldest and more traditional viticultural region in the country.