Merano Wine Festival 2020

Water is the main limiting factor for yield in viticulture. Improving drought adaptation in viticulture will be an increasingly important issue under climate change. Genetic variability of water deficit responses in grapevine partly results from the rootstocks, making them an attractive and relevant mean to achieve adaptation without changing the scion genotype. The objective of this work was to characterize the rootstock effect on the diurnal regulation of scion transpiration. A large panel of 55 commercial genotypes were grafted onto Cabernet Sauvignon. Three biological repetitions per genotype were analyzed. Potted plants were phenotyped on a greenhouse balance platform capable of assessing real-time water use and maintaining a targeted water deficit intensity. After a 10 days well-watered baseline period, an increasing water deficit was applied for 10 days, followed by a stable water deficit stress for 7 days. Pruning weight, root and aerial dry weight and transpiration were recorded and the experiment was repeated during two years. Transpiration efficiency (ratio between aerial biomass and transpiration) was calculated and δ13C was measured in leaves for the baseline and stable water deficit periods. A large genetic variability was observed within the panel. The rootstock had a significant impact on nocturnal transpiration which was also strongly and positively correlated with maximum daytime transpiration. The correlations with growth and water use efficiency related traits will be discussed. Transpiration data were also related with VPD and soil water content demonstrating the influence of environmental conditions on transpiration. These results highlighted the role of the rootstock in modulating water deficit responses and give insights for rootstock breeding programs aimed at identifying drought tolerant rootstocks. It was also helpful to better define the mechanisms on which the drought tolerance in grapevine rootstocks is based on.

In this audio recording of the IVES science meeting 2022, Maria Paissoni (Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari, Università degli Studi di Torino, Alba, Italy) speaks about sensory evaluation of the effect of anthocyanins on in-mouth perceptions. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on OENO One.

The Portuguese wine production is characterized by wide yield fluctuations, causing considerable implications in the economic performance of this sector. The possibility of predicting the yield in advance is crucial as it enables preliminary planning and management of the available resources. The present work aims to study and evaluate two different techniques for the assessment of vine fertility. vineyards.

Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a phenolic compound with extensive bioactive properties. It is present in olives, olive oil and wines. Its occurrence in wines is partly due to yeast synthetise tyrosol from tyrosine by the Ehrlich pathway, which is subsequently hydroxylated to .
The aim of the present work is to study how different yeast strains can influence in the HT production and, how the different nitrogen consumption of each strain can interfere the production of bioactive compounds.

Valpolicella is an Italian region famous for the production of high quality red wines. Wines produced in its different sub-regions are believed to be aromatically different, as confirmed by recent studies in our laboratory. Aging is a very common practice in Valpolicella and it is required by the appellation regulation for periods up to four years. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution, during aging, of volatile chemical composition of Valpolicella wines obtained from grapes harvested in different sub-regions during different vintages.