Varieties and rootstocks: an important mean for adaptation to terroir

Entre 1988 et 1995, dans la région Emilia-Romagna, deux zonages viticoles ont été complétés en zones assez differentes, soit géographiquement, soit par les conditions pedo-climatiques, soit par l’encépagement.

Haze formation in wine during transportation and storage is an important issue for winemakers, since turbid wines are unacceptable for sale. Such haze often results from aggregation of unstable grape proteinaceous colloids. To date, foreseeably unstable wines need to be treated with bentonite to remove these, while excessive quantities, which are often required, affect the wine volume and quality (Cosme et al. 2020). One solution to avoid these drawbacks might be the use of peptidases. Marangon et al. (2012) reported that Aspergillopepsins I and II were able to hydrolyse the respective haze-relevant proteins in combination with a flash pasteurisation. In 2021, the OIV approved this enzymatic treatment for wine stabilisation (OIV-OENO 541A and 541B).

Hydrogen sulfide and methanethiol are recognised as two of the most significant contributors to reductive off-flavours in wine.

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.

Bois noir is the most widespread phytoplasma grapevine disease in Europe. It is associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’. In symptomatic grapevines cv. ‘Zweigelt’ infected with ‘Ca. P. solani’ compared with uninfected grapevines, metabolic pathways associated with phosphorylated sugar production were induced both at the transcriptional level and at the level of activity of the corresponding enzymes (Dermastia et al., 2021, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22: 3531). In particular, the expression of gene coding for phosphoglucoisomerase was upregulated, resulting in increased phosphoglucoisomerase enzyme activity.