Xylem vessel blockages in grape pedicel growing in tropical climate observed by microtomography

AIM: Currently, an increasing concern from governments and consumers about environmental sustainability of wine production provides new challenges for innovation in wine industry. Accordingly, the application of more-environmentally friendly vineyard treatments against fungal diseases (powdery and downy mildew) could have a cascading impact on yeast ecology of wine production.

The ‘Erbaluce‘, a grapevine cultivar from which in the Canavese (Piedmont, Italy) different types of white DOC wines are obtained, is traditionally trained on a support structure commonly known as “pergola” having three to five long “cords” which consist of three cordons and canes interlaced together.

Water resource is a major limiting factor impacted by climate change that threatens grapevine production and quality. Understanding the ecophysiological mechanisms involved in the response to water deficit is crucial to select new varieties more drought tolerant. A major bottleneck that hampers such advances is the lack of methods for measuring fine functioning traits on thousands of plants as required for genetic analyses. This study aimed at investigating how water deficit affects the trade-off between carbon gains and water losses in a large panel representative of the Vitis vinifera genetic diversity. 250 genotypes were grown under 3 watering scenarios (well-watered, moderate and severe water deficit) in a high-throughput phenotyping platform.

Climate change has varied effects across French vineyards, with marked regional differences in temperature shifts. Fine-scale studies highlight significant local climate variability, emphasizing the need for precise regional characterization to adapt vineyard management at the regional scale.

With the steady rise in wildfire occurrence in wine regions around the world, there are quality issues beginning to face the wine industry. These fires produce clouds of smoke which have the ability to carry organic molecules across vast distances that can be absorbed by grapes. When these compounds make their way into the final wine, unpleasant smokey and burnt flavors are present, along with a lasting ashy finish. Along with the volatile compounds carried by smoke, once incorporated into the fruit these compounds become bound to sugars, forming glycosidic compounds.