Enhancing plant defense: carbon dots for efficient spray-induced gene silencing 

It is fundamental for wineries to know the potential yield of their vineyards as soon as possible for future planning of winery logistics. As such, non-invasive image-based methods are being investigated for early yield prediction. Many of these techniques have limitations that make it difficult to implement for practical use commercially. The aim of this study was to assess whether yield can be estimated using images taken in-field with a smartphone at different phenological stages.

What if, in 25 years, most wines were dealcoholized and flavored ? What if vines were only cultivated to combat erosion, store carbon, and provide anthocyanins…? What if climate change completely changed the list of vine varieties cultivable for wine production in France? What if food stores had completely disappeared in favor of virtual platforms? And if… because the long-term future is not predetermined and therefore not knowable, because the future is open to several possibilities, because the future does not emerge from nothing but from the present which conceals heavy trends and weak signals, prospective approaches make it possible to consider the room for maneuver that actors have to promote the advent of a future, which we can hope to be chosen, at least in part.

A 3-year zoning study promoted by the Cooperative Winery Valpolicella (Negrar, Verona, Italy) was carried out on a wine territory of about 500 ha.

The development of fertigation could be a possible solution to adapt PGI Côtes de Gascogne (south-western France) wine production to climate change. The goal would be to limit the negative effects of water stress on yield performance expectation (around 15 tons per hectare) and to make the use of fertilizers more efficient. This study aimed to compare the effects of three strategies of water and minerals supply on grapes and wines qualities. Two fertigation practices were compared to a rainfed control which is the current standard of the local grape growing production. The fertilizers (nitrogen and potassium) were (i) fully brought by irrigation pipe during the season, (ii) partially brought by irrigation pipe and partially on the soil or (iii) fully brought on the soil at the beginning of the season for the non-irrigated control (local standard). The trial was run on cv. Colombard trained on spur pruned with vertical shoot positioning system on a sandy-silty-clay soil over the 2020 vintage which was particularly hot for the region. Moderate to strong water deficit appeared during the growing period of the berries and held on after veraison. Irrigation strategies allowed for maintaining grapevine without water deficit and being significantly different from the control water status. Grapevine with fully or partial fertigation strategies produced 25% more yield mainly due to the increase of the bunch weight. Also, the fully fertigation showed the best ratio between yield and maturity and brought 30% less of fertilizers (both nitrogen and potassium) than the two other strategies. Finally, the analysis of aromatic compounds in Colombard wines, varietal thiols family, showed the same level of concentrations for the 3 treatments, confirming that the yield performance did not impact the aromatic potential in this trial.

At least since de XIXth century, wine writers oppose quite often the wines from Gevrey-Chambertin to the wines from Chambolle-Musigny claiming that the former are more “masculine” (full-bodied, powerful tannins, leathery, rustic…) and the later more “feminine” (delicate, elegant, silky, flowery…).