The influence of native flora on Argentine white terroir cv. Torrontes Riojano

Accurate and early yield estimation in vineyards is essential for the effective management of resources and informed decision-making in viticulture.

Global warming is one of the biggest environmental, social, and economic threats. In the Douro Valley, change to the climate are expected in the coming years, namely an increase in average temperature and a decrease in annual precipitation. Since vine cultivation is extremely vulnerable and influenced by the climate, these changes are likely to have negative effects on the production and quality of wine.
Adaptation is a major challenge facing the viticulture sector where the choice of plant material plays an important role, particularly the rootstock as it is a driver for adaptation with a wide range of effects, the most important being phylloxera, nematode and salt, tolerance to drought and a complex set of interactions in the grafted plant.
In an experimental vineyard, established in the Douro Region in 1997, with four randomized blocs, with five varieties, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, grafted in four rootstocks, Rupestris du Lot, R110, 196-17C, R99 and 1103P, data was collected consecutively over 20 years (2001-2020). Phenological observations were made two to three times a week, following established criteria, to determine the average dates of budbreak, flowering and veraison. During maturation, weekly berry samples were taken to study the dynamics of sugar accumulation, amongst other parameters. Climate data was collected from a weather station located near the vineyard parcel, with data classified through several climatic indices.
The results achieved show a very low coefficient of variations in the average date of the phenophases and an important contribution from the rootstock in the dynamic of the phenology, allowing a delay in the cycle of up to10-12 days for the different combinations. The Principal Component Analysis performed, evaluating trends in the physical-chemical parameters, highlighted the effect of the climate and rootstock on fruit quality by grape varieties.

The Valpolicella area (Veneto Region, Italy) is famous for its high quality wines: Amarone and Recioto, both obtained from partial post-harvest dehydrated red grapes.

Severe water stress events can induce cavitation damage by xylem embolism in grapevine, diminishing plant hydraulic conductance. This work aimed to determine the rootstock effects on 1) xylem embolism vulnerability to understand its function failure under severe drought, including segmentation processes from leaf to root; and 2) hydraulic conductance across water deficit and its recovery. For this purpose, two complementary experiments were performed in one-year-old Vitis vinifera cv. Tempranillo grafted onto two different rootstocks (110-Richter and SO4) under well-watered 12L pot conditions. In experiment 1, the water-stress induced xylem embolism was monitored in leaves and stems, above and below grafting-point, by using “Cavicam” for determining the percentage of embolized vessels (at P12, P50 and P88).

Wine is at risk of being labelled as a dangerous health product, based on studies that focus on its alcohol content. However, multiple studies suggest that moderate consumption is healthy. Changing the focus from health impacts to the environmental and socioeconomic impacts that wine companies cause, what can be said?