Combination of NIR multispectral information acquired from a ground moving vehicle with AI methods to assess the vine water status in a Tempranillo (Vitis vinifera L.) commercial vineyard

The wine industry is increasingly exposed to the combined effects of climate change, resource scarcity, and rising consumer expectations regarding environmental responsibility.

Fumaric acid has been approved by the OIV in 2021 for its application on wine to control the growth and activity of lactic acid bacteria. Fumaric acid is currently being evaluated by the OIV as an acidifier of must and wine. Investigations during the 2023 vintage provided further information on its use on must or during AF, thus completing information provided during the previous vintage.

Many compounds of interest in wine are difficult to analyze since they are present in very small quantities or they are unstable. The need for reliable data led scientists to develop complex method in order to overcome the analytical difficulties and provide accurate quantitative data for grape or wine characterization.

Sulfites (SO2) addition during winemaking is a widespread practice worldwide. This addition is realized at different steps of the winemaking due to the antimicrobial and antioxidant capacity of SO2. In a context of understanding white wines oxidative stability, knowledge about the impact of SO2 on the wine molecular diversity, especially compounds involved in the antioxidant capacity of wine, appears to be very important. In recent years, some studies have shown that SO2 can react with a large number of wine compounds resulting in the formation of numerous adducts. The diversity of compounds involved is important including in particular pyruvic acid, 2-keto-glutaric acid, glyceraldehyde, sugar, phenolics compounds but also amino acids or peptides. Moreover Roullier-Gall et al. have shown using FT-ICR-MS analysis that the molecular composition of wines remains impacted by addition of SO2 to the must (0, 4 and 8 g/hL SO2), several years after winemaking. Indeed, wines made from protected must (8g/hL SO2) contain a larger diversity of CHOS and CHONS compounds than wines made from unprotected must (0 g/hL SO2). The study of the impact of glutathione addition on the sensory oxidative stability has further shown that CHOS and CHONS compounds (amino acids, aromatic compounds and peptides) are markers of the antioxidant metabolome of white wines. This suggests that CHOS and CHONS compounds arise from SO2 adducts formation but also from a protecting effect of SO2 on the antioxidant metabolome of white wines.

Worldwide, with an average of 6.7 million cultivated hectares, of which exclusively 51% in Europe (faostat, 2021), the production of table and wine grapes is a leading sector, with continued growth in Europe in the area devoted to vine cultivation. during the growing season, most of the plant organs can be susceptible to several fungal and oomycete diseases, leading to important economic losses and causing detrimental effects on fruit quality. the increasingly scarce availability of fungicidal products, often also related to their relative impact on the environment, coupled with the emergence of resistance in the pathogen to these products, make defence increasingly challenging.