The role of vine trunk height in delaying grape ripening: insights for viticultural adaptation strategies

Amarone is an Italian red wine produced in the Valpolicella area, in north-eastern Italy. Due to its elaboration with withered grapes

Fossil fuel combustion continues to drive increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, consequently elevating the global annual mean temperature and specifically increasing the growing season temperatures in many of the world’s most important wine growing regions (IPCC 2014; Jones et al 2005). Grapes are sensitive to changes in growing season temperatures, and past models have shown a direct link between warming temperatures and earlier harvest dates (Cook and Wolkovich 2016). Globally, there have been shifts of 1-2 weeks for wine growing regions (Wolkovich et al 2017 and references within). The phenological shifts resulting from growing season temperature increases are documented internationally, and models predicting phenology using temperature are becoming more precise (Parker et al 2011).

A field trial was conducted in central California on Merlot to determine the interaction of mechanical leaf removal (control, pre-bloom, post fruit set) and water amounts [sustained deficit irrigation (SDI) at (0.8) and regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) at (0.8–0.5–0.8) of vineyard evapotranspiration (ETc)] on productivity and berry skin anthocyanin content.

Erysiphe necator and Plasmopara viticola are the causal agents of powdery and downy mildew on grapevines, leading to significant economic losses. Numerous chemical treatments are applied to control these diseases, leading to environmental problems and the appearance of resistance to these products. Therefore, the study of new strategies to achieve the objectives of sustainable development is a priority. In this sense, the use of new varieties resistant to these diseases may be an option of interest. The objective of this work was to analyze the degree of resistance of 9 varieties with downy mildew resistance genes (Rpv3 and/or Rpv12), four of which also carry a powdery mildew resistance gene (Ren 1) by in vitro inoculation assays.

Levels of esters derived from substituted acids increase during the first years of aging and some of them are strongly involved in red wine fruity aromatic expression.