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

Context and purpose of the study. Climate change is a major challenge in wine production. It results in erratic weather conditions which may lead to a reduction in grape yield and the subsequent grape and wine quality.

AIM: Organic production of wine in the past years has known an important augmentation. This type of cultivation practice switches synthetic phytosanitary product for copper-based protection as fungicide.

Nitrogen (N2) is critical in grape berries, especially in organic wine making. After intake, N2 follows various metabolic and allocation routes and, from veraison, partly reallocates into berries. Water deficit affects the N2 nutrition due to a poor diffusion in soil solution and vascular mobilisation. Also, affects photosynthesis and the energy needed for metabolism, whose extent would depend on the stomatal sensitivity of the plant. We have assessed the effect of a moderate water deficit from pea size, in 3 years old field grown potted plants of Chardonnay (CH) and Cabernet Sauvignon (CS), differing in stomatal sensitivity, on the N2 status of plant parts. Water deficit reduced photosynthesis, leaf area and fresh and dry plant mass along the season, but up to a higher extent in CS.

In the context of global warming, water scarcity is becoming an increasing issue worldwide. However, the reference method to characterize vine water deficit is based on water potential measurement, which is a destructive and discontinuous method. The current climatic context emphasizes the need for more precise and more continuous vineyard water use measurements in order to optimize irrigation and vine water deficit monitoring.

The winery and distilling spirits industry generate a remarkable amount of by-products and wasted, that are not properly managed, posing socioeconomic problems and environmental risks, due to its seasonal and polluting characteristics.