Valutazione dell’equilibrio vegeto-produttivo con metodiche di proximal sensing

Oxidative stability is a critical factor in wine shelf-life. SO₂ is commonly added to wine due to its strong antioxidant activity, although there is a general push to reduce SO₂ use in vinification.

Maturation of wine on lees (often referred as sur lie) is a common practice applied by many winemakers around the world. In the past this method was applied mainly on white and/or sparkling wine production but recently also to red wine production. In our experiment, we matured red wine on wine lees of two origins: a) Light wine lees, collected after the completion of the alcoholic fermentation, b) Heavy lees, collected after the completion of the malolactic fermentation. The lees were free of off-odors and were added in the red wine in percentage 3% and 8%, simulating common winemaking addition. The maturation lasted in total six months and samples were collected for analysis after one, three and six months. During storage the lees were stirred.

Color is one of the key elements in the marketing of rosé wines[1]. Their broad range of color is due to the presence of red pigments (i.e. anthocyanins and their derivatives) and yellow pigments, likely including polyphenol oxidation products. Clarifying agents are widely used in the winemaking industry to enhance wine stability and to modulate wine color by binding and precipitating polyphenols[2]. During this study, the impact of four different fining agents (i.e. two vegetal proteins, potatoe and pea proteins, an animal protein, casein, and a synthetic polymer, polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, PVPP) on Syrah Rose wine color and phenolic composition (especially pigments) was investigated. Color was characterized by spectrophotometry analysis using the CIELab system in addition to absorbance data. Fining using PVPP had the highest impact on redness (a*) and lightness (L*) parameters, whereas patatin strongly reduced the yellow component (b*) of the wine color. In parallel, the concentration of 125 phenolic compounds including 85 anthocyanins and derived pigments was determined by Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled to elestrospray ionisaion triple-quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-QqQ-ESI-MS) in the Multiple Reaction Monitoring mode[3] .

Spain is the country with the largest wine-producing area in the EU and its productivity is largely controlled applying fungicides. However, residues of these compounds can move and contaminate surface and groundwater. The objective of this work was to evaluate the capacity of bioadsorbents from different origin to adsorb and immobilize tetraconazole by themselves or when applied as organic soil amendment, and to prevent soil and water contamination by this fungicide. The adsorption of tetraconazole by 3 organic residues: spent mushroom substrate (SMS), green compost (GC) and vine pruning sawdust (VP), as well as by vineyard soils unamended and amended individually with these residues at 1.5% (w/w) was evaluated using the batch equilibrium technique.

The year-on-year rise in temperatures and the increase in extreme weather events due to climate change are already having an impact on agriculture. Among the perennial fruit species, grapevine is already negatively impacted by these events through an acceleration of its phenology, more damage from late frosts or through an increase in the sugar level of the berries (and therefore the alcoholic degree of the wine) and a decrease of acidity, impacting the wine quality. Sun’Agri, in partnership with INRAE, Chambre d’agriculture du Vaucluse, Chambre d’agriculture des Pyrénées-Orientales and IFV, developed a protection system based on dynamic agrivoltaics to protect grapevine. It consists of photovoltaic solar panels positioned above the crop, high enough not to impede the passage of agricultural machinery, and tiltable from +/- 90° to adjust the level of shading on the vineyard. These smart louvers, driven by artificial intelligence (physical models & plant growth models), are steered according to the plant’s needs and provide real climate protection.