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

Climate strongly affects the geographical distribution of grape varieties, grapevine cultivation techniques and wine organoleptic properties.

Nowadays, the recovery of secondary resources of wine industry is insufficient and the developing of new products and adjuvants from secondary raw materials could become a relevant sector of research. The re-use of byproducts derived from winemaking could improve the sustainability of wine industry and give additional value to other food industries

The societal pressure to reduce the use of pesticides in Switzerland is steadily increasing. Viticulture is particularly in focus due to the frequent use of fungicides to combat downy and powdery mildew.

The present work contributes by developing a rapid sensory-directed methodology for the screening and selection of high quality wines with different sensory profiles Therefore, Verdejo and Tempranillo musts were fermented with 50 different yeasts each under controlled laboratory conditions. Resulting samples were firstly categorized according to five levels of quality by a panel of wine professionals (Sáenz-Navajas, Ballester et al. 2013). Higher quality samples were described by flash profiling by a semi-trained panel
(Valentin, Chollet et al. 2012) and most distinctive samples were screened by gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) (López, Aznar et al. 2002).

Growing fungus-tolerant cultivars (PIWIs) reduces the need of fungicide use by 50-80 %. PIWIs have the potential to address climate change adaptation and mitigation simultaneously.