Wine metabolomics and sensory profile in relation to terroir: A case study focusing on different wine-growing areas of Piacenza Province (Italy)

Grapevine cultivars are vegetatively propagated to maintain their varietal characteristics. This process of multiplication leads to spontaneous somatic mutations that can eventually generate a variant phenotype, of potential interest for cultivar improvement and innovation. However, regardless their phenotypic effect, somatic mutations stack in the genome, and they can be used to reveal the origin and dissemination history of ancient cultivars. Here, a stringent somatic variant calling over whole genome resequencing data from 35 ‘Tempranillo Tinto’ clones or old vines from seven Iberian winemaking regions revealed 135 single nucleotide variations (SNVs) shared by some of the clonal lines.

Valpolicella is a famous wine producing region in the province of Verona owing its fame above all to the production of two Protected Designation of Origins (PDOs) withered wines: Amarone and Recioto. In recent years, however, the wineries have been interested in the enhancement and qualitative increase of another PDO, Valpolicella Superiore. All the Valpolicella PDOs wines are produced with a unique grape blend, mainly Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and a range of other minor varieties.From 2019 Valpolicella product regulation has changed the grape proportion of the blend allowing new composition parameters of wines. For this reason, studying the volatile chemical profiles to support wine makers in the effort to produce high quality wines represents a field of great interest.

In 2020, 12% of all bottled German wines were aromatized, which may increase further due to rising popularity of dealcoholized wines. As sealing polymers of a bottling line absorb aroma compounds and may release them into regular wines in the next filling¹, this unintentional carry-over bears the risk to violate the legal ban of any aromatization of regular wine. However, following EU legislation, German food control authorities accept a technical unavoidable transfer of aroma compounds, if this is of no sensory significance.

Context and purpose. In Germany, vineyards are typically intensively managed monocultural systems shaped by low structural variability.

Grapevine nitrogen (N) monitoring is essential for efficient N management plans that optimize fruit yield and quality while reducing fertilizer costs and the risk of environmental contamination. Unlike traditional vegetative-tissue sampling methods, remote sensing technologies, including hyperspectral imaging, have the potential to allow monitoring of the N status of entire vineyards at a per-vine resolution. However, differential N partitioning, variable spectral properties, and complex canopy structures hinder the development of a robust N retrieval algorithm. The present study aimed to establish a solid understanding of vine spectroscopic response at leaf and canopy levels by evaluating the different nitrogen retrieval approaches, including the radiative transfer model.