Effects of rootstock and environment on the behaviour of autochthone grapevine varieties in the Douro region

Today, nearly one billion bottles of different sizes and capacities are aging in Champagne cellars while waiting to be put on the market. Among them, several tens of thousands of prestigious cuvees elaborated prior the 2000s are potentially concerned by prolonged aging on lees. However, when it comes to champagne tasting, dissolved CO₂ is a key compound responsible for the very much sought-after effer-vescence in glasses [1]. Yet, the slow decrease of dissolved CO₂ during prolonged aging of the most prestigious cuvees raises the issue of how long a champagne can age before it becomes unable to form CO₂ bubbles during tasting [2].

Fluorescence spectroscopy combined with chemometrics has shown advantages in wine analysis due to being rapid, sensitive, and selective to fluorescent molecules. Especially due to the abundant phenolic compounds [1], the molecular fingerprints afforded by fluorescence spectroscopy can potentially be used to discern and track the change of wine composition, with two innovative investigations having been implemented.

The vineyard world is faced to a lot of fungal diseases. Grapevine Trunk Diseases (GTD) are some of the major. After exhibiting chronical foliar symptoms, grapevines can die by apoplexy within only few days. A range species of fungi was described to be associated with the apparition of early symptoms of GTD. It is well known that ozone dissolved into water is a powerful disinfectant with no remanence. The main goal of this study was to test the efficiency of this process on different fungal species associated with GTD in vitro and in planta conditions.

Wine is the result of the alcoholic fermentation (AF) of grape must. Besides AF, wine can also undergo the malolactic fermentation (MLF) driven out by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Among LAB, Oenococcus oeni and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum are the dominant species in wine. Even if O. oeni is the most common LAB undergoing MLF in wine, due to its high tolerance to wine conditions, L. plantarum can be used to undergo MLF in must. The moderate tolerance of L. plantarum to low pH and ethanol, may compromise the fermentative process in harsh wines.

Bois noir (BN) is a cicada-transmitted grapevine disease that today causes up to 50% yield and vine loss in vineyards. It is caused by the phytoplasma Candidatus Phytoplasma solani (16SrXII-A).