The Douro region: wine and tourism

Context and purpose of the study – In Valpolicella area (Verona – Italy) Vitis vinifera cv. Corvina is the main wine variety to obtain, after grape withering, Amarone wine: this study was carried out in order to compare two different grape dehydration conditions with the aim of verifying the final composition of Corvina dried grapes and the organoleptic profile of corresponding Amarone wine.

Yeast secondary metabolism is a complex network of biochemical pathways and the genetic profile of the yeast carrying out the alcoholic fermentation is obviously important in the formation of the metabolites conferring specific odors to wine. The aim of the present research was to investigate the relative expression of genes involved in flavor compound production in eight different Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.
Two commercial yeast strains Sc1 (S.cerevisiae x S.bayanus) and Sc2 (S.cerevisiae) and six indigenous S. cerevisiae strains (Sc3, Sc4, Sc5, Sc6, Sc7, Sc8) isolated during spontaneous fermentations were inoculated in Assyrtiko and Vidiano grape must.

The cultivar with a greater oenological potential was ‘Monastel’, which showed overall better values than ‘Tempranillo’ in colour intensity, total polyphenol index, wine colour, total anthocyanins, resveratrol and gallic acid.

Nel biennio 2008-2009, nell’ambito di un progetto multidisciplinare coordinato e finanziato dal Consorzio Tuscania, 4 vigneti in differenti zone della Toscana sono stati monitorati con strumenti di proximal sensing al fine di valutare la variabilità riscontrabile e ottenere delle indicazioni sulle risposte vegetative delle piante e quanti-qualitative delle produzioni.

Recent advances in phenomics and transcriptomics have the enhanced capacity for understanding how clonally propagated perennial crops like grapevines respond to their environments seasonally and over the course of multiple years. Because most grapevines are grafted, above-ground grapevine traits reflect scion genotype and its interaction with the local environment. In addition, traits expressed by the scion reflect rootstock genotype and how that rootstock is interacting with its environment seasonally and across years. To investigate rootstock x environment interaction on shoot systems in grafted grapevines we characterized comprehensive phenotypic variation in an experimental vineyard in Mount Vernon, Missouri, USA where the grapevine cultivar ‘Chambourcin’ is growing on its own roots and is grafted to three different rootstocks (‘1103P’, ‘3309C’, ‘SO4’).