Genetic determinism of grapevine development stages as a tool for the adaptation to climate change

Under the pressure of global warming, several wine grape growing regions around the world are increasingly suffering from advanced and compressed phenology; endangering wine character while also creating serious logistic problems. From a physiological standpoint, the issue of delaying ripening is not simple as, in several instances, only a few processes must be delayed (i.e. sugar accumulation into the berries) while other events such as pigmentation and accumulation of other important phenolic compounds should proceed at a normal rate. Thus, the issue of decoupling technological maturity from phenolic maturity is another important consideration. Over the last decades, several research groups have endeavored to establish alternate cultural practices aimed at addressing this decoupling. In some cases, special applications of quite robust and well known practices regarding physiological principles have been utilized, however some completely new techniques are also being studied. In figure 1 of the review, we offer a panorama of the available tools and in the text we elaborate on those having provided most reliable and consistent results under an array of genotypes and environmental conditions. Among these, primary focus is given to post‐veraison—apical to the cluster—leaf removal (that can also be suitably replaced by applications of anti‐transpirants); the use of kaolin against multiple summers’ stresses; and a drastic version of late winter pruning having the potential to postpone ripening into a cooler period with improved grape composition and a limited negative impact on yield and storage reserves replenishment. 

AIM: The increasing incidences of wildfires in wine grape growing regions pose a significant risk. Persistent exposure to smoke can compromise the quality and value of wine grapes and adversely affect wines made from smoke exposed grapes.

The economic importance of grapevine as a crop plant makes Vitis vinífera a good model system to study the improvement of the nutraceutical properties of food products (Vezulli et al. 2007). Stilbenes in general, and trans-resveratrol in particular, have been reported to be responsible for various beneficial effects. Resveratrol´s biological properties include antibacteria and antifungal effects, as well as cardioprotective, neuroprotective and anticâncer actions (Guerrero et al. 2010 ). Stilbenes can be induced by biotic and abiotic elicitors since they are phytoalexins (Bavaresco et al. 2001).

Despite their significant impact on wine quality and stability, colloids in red wine remain relatively under-researched. A series of studies, developed in the context of the d-wines project, aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the structure, composition, and formation mechanisms of red wine colloids by studying monovarietal wines from 10 of the most significant Italian red grape varieties. Starting from the idea that proteins, polysaccharides, and tannins should be involved in colloid formation, 110 monovarietal red wines were analysed for these components, revealing high inter- and intra-varietal diversity [1].

Botrytis cinerea has more than 1200 host plants and is one of the most important plant pathogens in viticulture. Under certain environmental conditions, it can lead to the development of a noble rot, which results in a specific metabolic profile, altering physical texture and chemical composition. The other microbes involved in this process and their functional genes are poorly characterised. We have generated metatranscriptomic [1,2] and DNA metabarcoding data from three months of the Furmint grape variety, representing the four phases of noble rot, from healthy berries to completely dried berries.