Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Projections of vine phenology and grape composition of Tempranillo variety In Rioja DOCa (Spain) under climate change

Projections of vine phenology and grape composition of Tempranillo variety In Rioja DOCa (Spain) under climate change

Abstract

Aims: Some of the most direct effects of climate variability on grapevines are the changes in the onset and timing of phenological events and in the length of the growing season, which may affect grape quality. The aim of this research was to analyze the projected changes in vine phenology and on grape composition of the Tempranillo variety in Rioja DOCa under different climate change scenarios.

Methods and Results: Three zones of Rioja DOCa, located at different elevations and with different climatic conditions were compared. For the analysis, vine phenology referred to flowers separated and veraison (stage H and M, according to Baillod and Baggiolini) and maturity defined based on the date at which 13ᵒ were reached, were analysed in the three zones for the period between 2008 and 2018. Grape composition at maturity, including variables related to acidity and polyphenol content was also evaluated for the same period. The weather characteristics for the places where the plots were located were also analysed using data of different meteorological stations belonging to the Rioja government. The thermal requirements to reach each phenological stage were evaluated and expressed as the GDD accumulated from DOI=60, which were considered to predict the changes under future climatic conditions. The analysis was done for the future conditions predicted by 2050 and 2070 under two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios –RCP4.5 and RCP8.5-, which were simulated based on an ensemble of 10 models.

An advance of the phenological stages was predicted, higher for veraison and maturity than for floraison. The advance of the stage H, M and maturity for the three zones by 2050 could be up to 5, 8, and 12 days, respectively under the RCP4.5 emission trajectory, and up to 8, 12 and 15, respectively under the RCP8.5 emission trajectory. The predicted advances indicate that the differences in timing that already exists between zones will be maintained or even increase, which will imply reaching maturity in the second half of August in the warmer area and in earlier September in the coolest one. Grape acidity could suffer a decrease with increasing temperature, while anthocyanins could decrease by the increase of temperature but increase due to the higher expected water deficit, and these changes could differ among zones. In addition, due to the advance in the phenology a decoupling between anthocyanins and sugars could result, which suggest the need of applying new management techniques to maintain grape quality.

Conclusion: 

The Tempranillo variety cultivated in Rioja DO may suffer significant changes in phenology and in grape composition under climate change, affected both by increasing temperatures and higher water deficits. However, differences were found between zones within the Rioja DOCa.

Significance and Impact of the Study: The study allowed quantifying the differences in the impact that climate change may produce in phenology and in grape composition in zones with different climatic conditions, which may be taken under consideration to identify potential areas in which the Tempranillo variety may suffer lower impacts under climate change.

DOI:

Publication date: March 17, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type: Video

Authors

María Concepción Ramos1*, Fernando Martínez de Toda2

1Department of Environment and Soil Sciences-Agrotecnio, University of Lleida, Spain
2ICVV- Institute of Grapevine and Wine Science (University of La Rioja, CSIC, Government of La Rioja), Logroño, Spain

Contact the author

Keywords

Acidity, anthocyanins, berry weight, polyphenols, soil characteristics, available water content

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

The challenge of improving oenological quality in favorable conditions for productivity

Marselan (Cabernet-Sauvignon x Grenache), has been planted for more than 20 years now in Uruguay. Due to its good agronomic and oenological aptitudes under uruguayan conditions, it is currently the red variety with highest plantation rate. The objective of the study was to identify management practices, aimed at improving quality in highly productive vineyards, different fruit/leaf regulation methods were tested in southern Uruguay.

Metabolomic profile of red non-V. vinifera genotypes

Vitis vinifera L. is the most widely cultivated Vitis species which includes numerous cultivars. Owing to their superior quality of grapes, these cultivars were long considered the only suitable for the production of fine wines. However, the lack of resistance genes in V. vinifera against major grapevine pathogens, requires for its cultivation frequent spraying with large amount of fungicides. Thus, the search for alternative and more sustainable methods to control the grapevine pathogens have brought the breeders to focus their attention on other Vitis species. In fact, wild Vitis genotypes present multiple resistance traits against pathogens, such as powdery mildew, downy mildew and phylloxera.

Effect of the winemaking technology on the phenolic compounds, foam parameters in sparklig wines

Contribution Sparkling wines elaborated following the traditional method undergo a second fermentation in closed bottles of base wines, followed by aging of wines with lees for at least 9 months. Most of the sparkling wines elaborated are white and rosé ones, although the production of red ones is highly increasing. One of the initial problems in red sparkling wine processing is to obtain suitable base wines that should have moderate alcohol content and astringency and adequate color intensity; which is difficult to obtain when grapes must be harvested at low phenolic and industrial maturity stage. The low phenolic maturity degree in the red grapes makes essential to choose an adequate winemaking methodology to obtain the base wines because the extracted polyphenols will vary according the winemaking technique: carbonic maceration or destemmed-crushed grapes.

TOWARDS THE SHELF-LIFE PREDICTION OF OLD CHAMPAGNE VINTAGES DEPENDING ON THE BOTTLE CAPACITY

Today, nearly one billion bottles of different sizes and capacities are aging in Champagne cellars while waiting to be put on the market. Among them, several tens of thousands of prestigious cuvees elaborated prior the 2000s are potentially concerned by prolonged aging on lees. However, when it comes to champagne tasting, dissolved CO₂ is a key compound responsible for the very much sought-after effer-vescence in glasses [1]. Yet, the slow decrease of dissolved CO₂ during prolonged aging of the most prestigious cuvees raises the issue of how long a champagne can age before it becomes unable to form CO₂ bubbles during tasting [2].

Depletion Of Vine-Shoots Phenolic Composicion After Being Used As An Enological Tool For Wine Differentiation

Pruning vine-shoots are a viticulture waste that have been traditionally poorly exploited in relation to its chemical minority composition related to phenolic and volatile compounds. In this line, toasted vine-shoots supposes a proposal of enological tool to use to modulate the chemical and sensorial profile of wines. From a phenolic point of view, when vine-shoots are used during winemaking mainly influence to increase the flavanols and stilbenes content, mostly trans-resveratrol, as also an increasing in the sweet tannins and decreasing the green character and total anthocyanins, changing the violet for garnet colour.