Influenza dei fattori dell’ambiente sulla risposta della pianta, e caratteristiche dell’uva della cv tannat prodotta in vigneti di tre zone climatiche dell’Uruguay

The sulphur dioxide (SO2) is the most widely used additive in the wine industry because of its preservative action. However, in recent years the number of wineries that produce wines without SO2 has increased significantly because its allergenic character.

The recent expansion of arid areas due to climate change is putting grapevine and the other traditional productions at risk in all Mediterranean countries with a limited availability of fundamental resources such as water. It is possible to improve the resilience of vineyards by developing sustainable agricultural practices based on biological and natural resources such as endophytic microorganisms that colonize inner plant tissues, and which can potentially increase the tolerance to abiotic stresses. A selection of grapevine endophytes was conducted from 2021 to 2023 as part of the PRIMA project PROSIT.

The development of off-flavours in wine distillates, particularly those associated with the tails fraction, is a key issue in the production of high-quality spirits.

Alcoholic fermentation is the main step for winemaking, mainly performed by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. But other wine yeasts called non-Saccharomyces may contribute to alcoholic fermentation and modulate the wine aroma complexity. The recurrent problem with the use of these non-Saccharomyces yeasts is their trend to die off prematurely during alcoholic fermentation, leading to a lack of their interesting aromatic properties searched in the desired wine. This phenomenon appears to be mainly due to interactions with S. cerevisiae. These interactions are often negatives but remain unclear because of the species and strain specific response. Among the non-Saccharomyces yeasts, Lachancea thermotolerans is a wine yeast naturally found in grape must and well known as a great L-lactic acid producer and an aromatic molecules enhancer, but its behavior during alcoholic fermentation can be completely different in co-fermentation with S. cerevisiae in function of strain used.

Vines are exposed to environmental conditions that cause abiotic stress on the plants (drought, nutrient and mineral deficits, salinity, etc.). Polyamines are growth regulators involved in various physiological processes, as in abiotic plant stress responses. Stressful conditions can modify grape’s composition, and in this work, we have focused on studying the effect of abiotic stress on the composition of polyamines and amino acids in grapes. In addition, the effect of grape variety on these compounds has been studied.