Identifying New Zealand Sauvignon blanc terroirs

The development and application of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas (CRISPR-associated protein) technologies have revolutionized genome editing in plants due to its simplicity, high efficiency, and versatility. As an economically important fruit crop worldwide, grapevine genome editing using CRISPR/Cas technologies has also been reported these years. Here we introduce the development briefly of the most popular CRISPR/Cas9 system and also the state-of-the-art CRISPR technologies developed so far. Moreover, we summarize CRISPR/Cas9-mediated applications for gene functional study and trait improvement in grapevine.

Elemental sulfur is a fungicide used by grape growers to control the development of powdery mildew, caused by the fungus Erysiphe necator. This compound is effective, cheap and has a low toxicity with no withholding period recommended. However, high levels of S0 residues in the harvested grapes can lead to the formation of reductive sulfur compounds that can impart taints and faults to the wine. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a very volatile and unpleasant sulfur compound which formation is connected to high residues of S0 in juice (10 – 100 mg/L).

The choice of sites for viticulture depends on natural environmental factors, particularly climate, as grapevines have specific climatic requirements for optimum physiological performance and berry quality achievement. In the Stellenbosch wine-producing region, the complex topography and the proximity of the ocean create a variety of topoclimates resulting in different growth conditions for vines within short distances.

In vineyard management, the block is considered today as the technical work unit. However, considerable variability can exist inside a block with regard to physiological parameters, such as vigour, particularly because of soil heterogeneity. To represent this variability spatially, many measurements have to be taken, which is costly in both time and money. High resolution remote sensing appears to be an efficient tool for mapping intra-block heterogeneity.

AIM: Cross-over applications are an emerging technological approach in food microbiology where a microorganism from one traditional specific fermentation process is used to improve quality and safety in another agri-food production/chain (Dank et al., 2021). A complex microbial diversity is found in association with fermentation in wine, including Saccharomyces, non-Saccharomyces and malolactic bacteria,  all microorganisms versatile in terms of enological utilisation (Tempère et al., 2018). Here, we propose a systematic literature review highlighting the existing trends and possible future applications related to cross-over exploitation of wine-related microbiota.