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

The study of new wine grape cultivars can be interesting to diversify the local wine productions without using international varieties. With this aim some Vitis vinifera intraspecific crosses obtained by Prof. Dalmasso in the 1930s and registered in the Italian National Catalogue in 1977, have been studied in the last years.

Lugana wines are made from Turbiana grapes. In recent times, many white and rosé wines are bottled and stored in flint glass bottles because of commercial appeal. However, this practice could worsen the aroma profile of the wine, especially as regards the development of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs). This study aims to investigate the consequences of exposure to light in flint bottles on VSCs profile of Lugana wines fermented with two different yeasts and with different post-fermentation residual nitrogen.

Grapevine downy mildew (GDM), caused by the oomycete Plasmopara viticola, is one of the most destructive diseases of Vitis vinifera worldwide. All V. vinifera cultivars are susceptible to P. viticola infection, and epidemics can spread across an entire vineyard within a matter of weeks. Severe outbreaks cause substantial reductions in yield and fruit quality. Tracking GDM spread by manual scouting is time-consuming and unfeasible over large spatial extents.

Inorganic phosphonates are known to effectively support the control of grapevine downy mildew in vi- ticulture. Their application helps the plant to induce an earlier and more effective pathogen defense. However, inorganic phosphonates have been banned in organic viticulture due to their classification as plant protection products since October 2013. Despite the ban, phosphonate has been recently detected in organic wines.

Botrytis cinerea has more than 1200 host plants and is one of the most important plant pathogens in viticulture. Under certain environmental conditions, it can lead to the development of a noble rot, which results in a specific metabolic profile, altering physical texture and chemical composition. The other microbes involved in this process and their functional genes are poorly characterised. We have generated metatranscriptomic [1,2] and DNA metabarcoding data from three months of the Furmint grape variety, representing the four phases of noble rot, from healthy berries to completely dried berries.