Exploring the inner secrets of grapevine: a journey through plant-microbe interactions

Valbelluna valley is an area located in the northeastern Italy. It is extended from the East-West between Feltre and Belluno, along the Piave waterway and enclosed between Cansiglio valley on the South and the Dolomites in the North. Here, the villages of Limana and Trichiana are present, which are considered for decades potentially interesting areas to aim a niche production with own particular properties.The position of this area, its sun exposition, its soil composition and the microclimate, are ideal factors to obtain vines and consequently wines with unique features especially regarding the diversity and complexity aroma.

Genetic diversity within grapevine cultivars is a fundamental resource for varietal improvement and adaptation to cultivation requirements.

Candida zemplinina (synonym Starmerella bacillaris) is frequently isolated in grape must in different vitivinicultural areas. The enological significance of C. zemplinina strains used in combination with S. cerevisiae has been demonstrated, being wines produced by the above-mixed starter, characterized by higher amounts of glycerol and esters.

Understanding the composition of wine and how it is influenced by climate or wine-making practices is a challenging issue. Two approaches are typically used to explore this issue. The first approach uses chemical
fingerprints, which require advanced tools such as high-resolution mass spectrometry and multidimensional chromatography. The second approach is the targeted method, which relies on the widely available 1-D GC/MS, but involves integrating the areas under a few peaks which ends up using only a small fraction of the chromatogram.

The trial was conducted in variety/rootstock Riesling/Kober 5 BB in the vineyard district of Vrsac. The vineyard was planted in 1996 on a south-facing slope, with rectangular type pruning of 3×1 m. The training system is of symmetric cordon type and mixed type pruning is practiced.