Exploring grapevine water relations in the context of fruit growth at pre- and post-veraison

Sterols are a fraction of the eukaryotic lipidome that is essential for the maintenance of the cell membrane integrity and their good functionality. During alcoholic fermentation, they ensure yeast growth, metabolism and viability, as well as resistance to osmotic stress and ethanol inhibition. Two sterol sources can support yeasts to adapt to fermentation stress conditions: ergosterol, produced by yeast in aerobic conditions, and phytosterols, plant sterols found in grape musts imported by yeasts in anaerobiosis. Little is known about the physiological impact of the assimilation of phytosterols in comparison to ergosterol and the influence of sterol type on fermentation kinetics parameters.

Conventional viticulture improved the quality of production, but the economic costs can be unsustainable. Today, producers need to consider consumers’ demands for healthy, eco-friendly products. Institutions promote sustainable agriculture, with regenerative agriculture being the latest generation of methodologies focused on recovering losses and ensuring future sustainability. The revine project studies regenerative agricultural technology applied in mediterranean countries to provide precise indications for soil processing and effective vineyard treatments.

In recent years there has been a growing demand for alternative packaging designs in the food industry focused on diminishing the carbon footprint. Despite the environmental advantages of cans versus bottles, the traditional environment of wine has hindered the establishment of less contaminant containers. In this context, the objective of this study was to understand and generate knowledge about consumers´ perception of canned wines in comparison to bottled wines.

Management of plant-parasitic nematodes is typically focused on preplant fumigation, especially in a vineyard replant scenario. While the data are clear that this practice reduces nematodes immediately after application, which is useful in annually-cropped systems, does it have staying power in perennial cropping systems? The northern root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla reduces the overall lifespan and productivity of vineyards, but it does so over a long time period (slow, chronic decline). In two different commercial own-rooted V. vinifera vineyards, both undergoing vineyard replanting, we explored whether preplant fumigation reduced M. hapla densities in soils immediately after application. At one of these locations, we have explored the long-term effect of fumigation by monitoring the site for seven years post fumigation.

Moderate wine consumption – with the meals – represents one of the beneficial components of the traditional mediterranean diet (med diet) and a positive item in the med diet score [1,2, 3]. The med diet is considered one of the best diets in the world and the world health organisation (who) identified this eating pattern as an effective strategy to prevent non-communicable diseases (ncd), since it is associated with lower disease occurrence and all-cause mortality [4] . Numerous well-conducted epidemiological studies have also reported that light-to-moderate intake of wine/alcoholic beverages is not only related to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, but also to all-cause mortality.