Teran grape quality influenced by different irrigation treatments

Warming trends over the winegrowing regions lead to an advance of grapevine phenology, diminution of yield and increased sugar content and must pH with a lower polyphenol content, especially anthocyanins. Canopy management practices are applied to control the source sink balance and improve the cluster microclimate to enhance berry composition. We hyphothesized that an early leaf removal might promote a delayed ripening through severe defoliation after fruitset; whereas, a late leaf removal at mid-ripening would reduce sugar accumulation.

Winegrowing regions recognized as protected designations of origin (PDOs) are closely tied to well defined geographic locations with a specific set of pedoclimatic attributes and strictly regulated by legal specifications. However, climate change is increasingly threatening these regions by changing local conditions and altering winegrowing processes. The vulnerability to these changes is largely heterogenous across different winegrowing regions because it is determined by individual characteristics of each region, including the capacity to adapt to new climatic conditions and the sensitivity to climate change, which depend not only on natural, but also socioeconomic and legal factors. Accurate vulnerability assessments therefore need to combine information about adaptive capacity and climate change sensitivity with projected exposure to new climatic conditions. However, most existing studies focus on specific impacts neglecting important interactions between the different factors that determine climate change vulnerability. Here, we present the first comprehensive vulnerability assessment of European wine PDOs that spatially combines multiple indicators of adaptive capacity and climate change sensitivity with high-resolution climate projections. We found that the climate change vulnerability of PDO areas largely depends on the complex interactions between physical and socioeconomic factors. Homogenous topographic conditions and a narrow varietal spectrum increase climate change vulnerability, while the skills and education of farmers, together with a good economic situation, decrease their vulnerability. Assessments of climate change consequences therefore need to consider multiple variables as well as their interrelations to provide a comprehensive understanding of the expected impacts of climate change on European PDOs. Our results provide the first vulnerability assessment for European winegrowing regions at high spatiotemporal resolution that includes multiple factors related to climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity on the level of single winegrowing regions. They will therefore help to identify hot spots of climate change vulnerability among European PDOs and efficiently direct adaptation strategies.

The need to combine multimodal data for complex samples is due to the different information captured in each of the techniques (modes).

Climate change is having an unprecedented impact on the wine industry, which is one of the major agricultural sectors around the world. Global warming, combined with the variation in rainfall patterns and the increase in frequency of extreme weather events, is significantly influencing vine physiology and exposing, more frequently, plants to severe biotic and abiotic stresses. This represents a challenge for viticulturists who need to take complex decisions to adjust vineyard management and achieve oenological goals.

In recent years, proteins endogenous to grape have become of great interest to the wine industry because they represent a new alternative to other biopolymers subjected to more legal restrictions (i.e. animal origin and synthetics) that can be used in technological applications to modulate sensory attributes such as wine color and have a positive impact on wine quality.