Using multifactorial analysis to evaluate the contribution of terroir components to the oenological potential of grapes at harvest

Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a phenolic compound present in olives, virgin olive oil and wine. HT has attracted great scientific interest due to its biological activities which have been related with the ortho-dihydroxy conformation in the aromatic ring. In white and red wines, HT has been detected at concentrations ranging from 0.28 to 9.6 mg/L and its occurrence has been closely related with yeast metabolism of aromatic amino acids by Ehrlich pathway during alcoholic fermentation. One of the most promising properties of this compound is the neuroprotective activity against pathological mechanisms related with neurode-generative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Performing accurate vineyard yield estimation is of upmost importance as it provides important benefits to the whole vine and wine industry. Recently, image-analysis approaches have been explored to address this issue however this approach has as main challenge the bunch occlusion, mostly by vegetation but also by neighboring bunches. The present work aims at assessing the magnitude of bunch occlusion by neighboring bunches and to evaluate its dependency on a selection of vegetative and reproductive vine parameters assessed at fruiting zone. Forty vine segments (1 m) of two vineyard plots of the white cultivars ‘Alvarinho’ and ‘Arinto’ were assessed for vegetative and reproductive features at fruiting zone and imaged with a 2D camera.

Water resource is a major limiting factor impacted by climate change that threatens grapevine production and quality. Understanding the ecophysiological mechanisms involved in the response to water deficit is crucial to select new varieties more drought tolerant. A major bottleneck that hampers such advances is the lack of methods for measuring fine functioning traits on thousands of plants as required for genetic analyses. This study aimed at investigating how water deficit affects the trade-off between carbon gains and water losses in a large panel representative of the Vitis vinifera genetic diversity. 250 genotypes were grown under 3 watering scenarios (well-watered, moderate and severe water deficit) in a high-throughput phenotyping platform.

Aim: Pinot Blanc is the third most planted white wine grape in northern Italy’s region of South Tyrol, where small-scale viticultural production permits the examination of the wine’s diverse expressive potential in a small area across a wide range of climatic variables. This study aimed to explore the qualitative potential of Pinot Blanc across a range of climatic variation leading to site-specific terroir expression in a cool climate region.

The abbreviation AOC designates, since 1905 in France, wines which characteristics and reputation are due to a proper “terroir”. The delimitation of such “terroirs” consists in a technical and statutory procedure which has developed by steps.