Study of the effect of native vineyard bacteria on the expression of Plasmopara viticolaeffectors

Extension specialists often recommend nutrient monitoring through leaf blade or petiole sampling twice a season for each vineyard block. However, due to the time and labor required to collect a large, random sample, many growers complete the task infrequently or incorrectly. Readily available remote sensing images capture the vineyard variability at both spatial and temporal scales, which can capture canopy and soil variability and be used to guide growers to representative sampling locations.

Armenia, a small country in the South of the Caucasus, has been rediscovering its wine-growing past since the discovery in 2007 of archaeological wine-growing remains dating back around 8,000 years. They are among the oldest in the world. Despite a great diversity of grape varieties, Armenian winegrowers did not have sufficiently organized genetic collections to produce plants and satisfy the growing demand for planting.

In 2020, 12% of all bottled German wines were aromatized, which may increase further due to rising popularity of dealcoholized wines. As sealing polymers of a bottling line absorb aroma compounds and may release them into regular wines in the next filling¹, this unintentional carry-over bears the risk to violate the legal ban of any aromatization of regular wine. However, following EU legislation, German food control authorities accept a technical unavoidable transfer of aroma compounds, if this is of no sensory significance.

Wine industry has to develop new strategies to reduce the negative impact of global climate change in wine quality while trying to mitigate its own contribution to this climate change. The term “ecosystem services”, whose use has been recently increasing, refers to the benefits that human beings can obtain from the interactions between the different living beings that coexist in an environment or system. The management of biodiversity in the vineyard has a positive impact on this crop. It has recently been reported that practices such as plant cover can reduce the occurrence of pests, increase pollination of the vine, improve plant performance1 and affect the phenolic content of grapes.2

IFV, INRAe and the national network “Partenaires de la Sélection Vigne” representing 37 organizations from the different wine regions, have been working increasingly closely over the last 2 decades towards the preservation of the French varietal patrimony. There are approximately 600 patrimonial varieties according to INRAe and SupAgro Montpellier experts, including ancient cultivars (400) and intravarietal crossbreeds obtained since the 19th century. In the context of a drastic reduction in such varieties from the mid 1980’s in favor of mainstream varieties, it was essential to carry out an inventory of old vines and vineyards. INRAe Vassal collection plays a key role here as it holds the largest diversity available, along with a rich bibliography and herbariums, offering us the opportunity to document and double check the identity of a cultivar, consolidating the expertise of ampelographers. The work is carried out in several stages, from verifying the existence of a variety in a small region, through to rehabilitation. During this session, the authors present the process that leads to the official registration of a variety. After this, IFV selection center takes over to initiate the process of selection and propagation. A specific focus within regions such as the Alps, Champagne and the South-West will provide details of the full procedure. Bia, Bouysselet, Chardonnay rose, Mecle and the aptly named Tardif, are some of the cultivars that have followed this procedure. Furthermore, a recent regulation established by INAO on “varieties of interest for adaptation purposes” might boost uptake by growers. Since 2006, 36 historical cultivars have been registered. Most of these have been neglected in the past due to late maturity, lack of sugar and high titratable acidity at harvest time. Such characteristics are today considered as positive qualities, not only in mitigation of the effects of climate change, but also as an opportunity for restoring diversity…