Collective management for landscape and biodiversity conservation in viticulture: The Life + BioDiVine project

Aim: Northwest China occupies an important position in China’s wine regions due to its superior geographical conditions with dry climate and sufficient sunlight. In this work, we aimed to investigate the physico-chemical colour and flavour characteristics of red wine in Northwest China.

The purpose of this study is to examine the changing mix of winegrape varieties in Australia so as to address the question: In the light of key climate indicators and predictions of further climate change, how appropriate are the grape varieties currently planted in Australia’s wine regions? To achieve this, regions are classified into zones according to each region’s climate variables, particularly average growing season temperature (GST), leaving aside within-region variations in climates. Five different climatic classifications are reported. Using projections of GSTs for the mid- and late 21st century, the extent to which each region is projected to move from its current zone classification to a warmer one is reported. Also shown is the changing proportion of each of 21 key varieties grown in a GST zone considered to be optimal for premium winegrape production. Together these indicators strengthen earlier suggestions that the mix of varieties may be currently less than ideal in many Australian wine regions, and would become even less so in coming decades if that mix was not altered in the anticipation of climate change. That is, grape varieties in many (especially the warmest) regions will have to keep changing, or wineries will have to seek fruit from higher latitudes or elevations if they wish to retain their current mix of varieties and wine styles.

The wine aroma is constituted by hundred of volatile chemical compounds that depend on many viticultural and oenological factors.

The evolution of wine during bottle ageing has been of great interest to ensure consistent quality over time. While the role of wine closures on the amount of oxygen is well-known [1], closures could also play other roles such as the scalping phenomenon of flavour compounds. Flavour scalping has been described as the sorption of flavour compounds by the packaging material, which could result in losses of flavour intensity. It has been reported in the literature that volatile sulphur compounds (VSC) can be scalped on wine closures depending on the type of closure (traditional and agglomerated cork, screw-cap, synthetic [2]).

The use of pectinolytic enzymes in winemaking is state of the art. These enzymes catalyse the degradation of pectic substances through depolymerization (hydrolases and lyases) and de-esterification. As a result, it supports the extraction of juice and facilitates filtration. It has also been shown in winemaking that the presence of pectinolytic enzymes improves the stability, taste, texture, colour and aroma of products. With regard to enzymes currently applied in winemaking, enzymes derived from filamentous fungi dominate the enzyme industry. Fungal-based pectinolytic enzymes specifically require purification from the culture medium to eliminate unwanted side reactions, which is poorly sustainable. Some non-traditional yeast strains have been reported to exhibit pectinolytic activities. Therefore, the direct use of pectinolytic yeast during wine fermentation process can be an attractive and alternative source for the use of enzymes as input.