From genes to vineyards: system biology and new breeding technologies for water stress tolerance in grapevines

The global wine market is polarising over brands versus origin. Provenance is emerging as a marketing megatrend in many fast moving consumer goods. Origin has always been important in wine but does that mean consumers understand, or care about terroir?

The French grapevine breeding program for durable resistance to downy and powdery mildew (INRAE-ResDur) was initiated more than 20 years ago to help reduce the heavy use of plant protection products and provide a durable mean to cope with a strong pathogen pressure. This program has now proved to be effective, with about ten new varieties already officially registered. However, there is still a lot to be done (1) to reduce the duration of each breeding cycle, (2) to diversify disease factors’ pyramiding and anticipate emerging diseases, (3) to work towards larger adoption of the new resistant varieties. New breeding schemes incorporating for example genomic prediction of breeding values are being evaluated to accelerate genetic gains, saving cost and time while handling complex traits.

The production of organically grown crops developed exponentially in the last few decades based on consumer demands for healthy food

Organic wine production and consumption is one of the sustainable practices contributing to a number of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Fining is a technique that is used to remove unwanted wine components that affect clarification, astringency, color, bitterness, and aroma. Fining involves the addition of adsorptive or reactive material in order to reduce or eliminate the presence of certain less desirable wine components and to ensure that a wine remains in a particular stable state for a given period of time Recently concerns have been raised about the addition of animal proteins, such as gelatin, to wine due to the disease known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow disease). Although the origin of gelatins has been moved to porcine, winemakers are asking for substitute products with properties and application protocols similar to the traditional animal-derived ones, making the use of plant-derived proteins in fining a practically viable possibility. As a consequence, various fining agents derived from plants have been proposed, including proteins from cereals, legumes, and potato.