Fertilization with Seaweed (Laminaria japonica) on the characteristics of the bunch and the quality of the grape must of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’

The blend of grapes used in the production of the four Valpolicella PDOs red wines, namely Valpolicella, Valpolicella Classico Superiore, Recioto della Valpolicella and Amarone della Valpolicella is quite unique, and includes two main varieties Corvina and Corvinone, and other minor varieties. To a very large extent all these grapes are only grown in the province of Verona. One of the main characteristics of Valpolicella is the use of grapes that are submitted to post-harvest withering. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the evolution of the free and glycosidically-bound volatile compounds in Corvina and Corvinone grapes under real production conditions.

Multi-mineral wine profiling and artificial intelligence: implementing the signatures of each wine to train algorithms to meet the new challenges facing the wine industry. Although their quantity is minimal, minerals are essential elements in the composition of every wine. Their presence is the result of complex interactions between factors such as soil, vines, climate, topography, and viticultural practices, all influenced by the terroir. Each stage of the winemaking process also contributes to shaping the unique mineral and taste profile of each wine, giving each cuvée its distinctive characteristics.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the gaseous species responsible for the sparkle in all sparkling wines, influencing their
visual appearance, aromas and mouthfeel.

Synthetic pesticides are widely used in viticulture to ensure steady harvest quality and quantity. Fungicides are primarily used to control grapevine diseases but insecticides and herbicides are likewise used. Pesticide residues in viticultural areas currently represent a strong societal concern, but may also affect different trophic chains in such areas. In this project we wish to analyse honeybees collected from hives placed in different vineyards, their natural predator (the invasive hornet Vespa velutina), as well as the honey, grape berries, and wines produced.

Epidermal Patterning Factors are a class of cysteine rich peptides known to be involved in many developmental processes. The role of EPF1, EPF2 and EPFL9 in controlling leaf stomata formation has been well described in model plants and cereals, and recently also in grapevine, while little is known about their activity in other organs. The aim of our study is to investigate whether VviEPFL9-2 can have a specific biological function in grapevine roots, where it resulted to be expressed. As grapevine is cultivated in the form of a grafted plant, we focused our study on the commonly used rootstock Kober 5BB (Vitis berlandieri x Vitis riparia). VviEPFL9-2 was edited in Kober 5BB plants using Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation of embryogenic calli and the CRISPR/Cas9 technology. The phenotypic evaluation in greenhouse indicated that, as expected, the leaves of knock-out (KO) plants have a significant lower stomatal density compared to WT, associated with a lower stomatal conductance.