Impact of microclimate on berry quality parameters of white Riesling (Vitis vinifera L.)

Does a white wine smell like red wine if you color it with red food coloring? A study by Morrot, Brochet, and Dubourdieu (2001, Brain and Language) suggests so. Subjects perceived red wine odors when tasting white wine that had been colored red. The perceived odor profile of the colored white wine became similar to that of a red wine. However, the forced-choice procedure used by Morrot et al. has some methodological shortcomings. Here, we used an alternative method (a rating procedure) to evaluate the presented wines.

Climate change effects on grapevine phenology and grape primary and secondary metabolites are well described in recent literature. Increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves may be responsible for important yield losses in the future. However, the impact of this event is not so well described in literature. The present study highlights the importance of grape variety tolerance as a mitigation tool to climate change.

Context and purpose of the study. Climate changes pose the need to develop new grapevine varieties and rootstocks that are more tolerant to stress and diseases.

The impact of minute amounts of headspace oxygen on the post-bottling development of wine is generally considered to be very important, since oxygen, packaging and storage conditions can either damage or improve wine quality. This is reflected in the generalised use of inert bottling lines, where the headspace between the white wine and the stopper is filled with an inert gas. This experiment aimed to address some open questions about the chemistry of the interaction between wine and oxygen, crucial for decisions regarding optimal closure. While it is known that similar amounts of oxygen affect different wines to a variable extent, our knowledge of chemistry is not sufficient to construct a predictive method.

Erisiphe necator is endemic in the Rioja Appellation of Origin. Vine growers exert significant effort to protect their crops, given the economic losses this disease causes. Different studies have shown that using Gubler-Thomas Model (GTM) can reduce treatments by up to 20% compared to a full-time protection strategy. This reduction is achieved by optimizing applications based on temperature variations in late spring and summer when the disease’s conidial stage is active.