Soil electrical resistivity, a new and revealing technique for precision viticulture

AIM: Stalks are empirically known to bring many benefits to the wine such as alcoholic reduction, color protection or improvement of the tannic intensity. Not much used on Swiss grape varieties, the aim of this study was to identify the relevance of using this type of winemaking in the case of Gamay and Gamaret red grape varieties.

The exploitation of food by-products has garnered significant attention over the past few decades, particularly within the framework of the European Green Deal.

The undergoing global warming scenario is affecting grapevines phenology, including the timing of berry ripening and harvest date, negatively impacting production and quality. This work reports the crucial role of NAC61, a grapevine NAC transcription factor, in regulating metabolic processes occurring from the onset of ripening onwards. NAC61 high confidence targets mainly represent genes acting on stilbene biosynthesis and regulation, and in osmotic and oxidative/biotic stress-related responses. The direct regulation of the stilbene synthase regulator MYB14, the osmotic stress-related gene DHN1b, and the Botrytis cinerea susceptibility gene WRKY52, were all further validated.

In this video recording of the IVES science meeting 2024, Stéphane La Guerche (Œnoppia, Paris, France) speaks about wine labelling with the list of ingredients: context, consumer’s perception and future challenges. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on IVES Technical Reviews.

Fungal chitosan is a polysaccharide made up of glucosamine and N-acetyl-glucosamine and derived from chitin-glucan of Aspergillus niger or Agaricus bisporus. Fungal chitosan has been authorized as an antiseptic agent in wine since 2009 (OIV) and in organic wine in 2018. At the maximum dose of 10g/hl, it was shown to eliminate Brettanomyces bruxellensis, the main spoilage agent in red wines. Fungal chitosan is highly renewable, biocompatible (ADI equivalent to sucrose) and non-allergenic. However, winemakers often prefer to use sulfites (SO2), though sulfites are classified as priority food allergens, than chitosan. Indeed, many conflicting reports exist regarding its efficiency and its side effects towards beneficial wine microorganisms or wine taste. These contradictions could be explained by the heterogeneity of the fungal chitosan lots traded, the diversity of the wines (chemical composition, winemaking process), but also, by the recently highlighted huge genetic diversity prevailing in wine microbial species.