Use of microorganisms in the disinfection/protection of organic rooted-cuttings from wood pathogens

Efforts to improve the New Zealand wine industry’s climate resilience and sustainability through grapevine improvement are limited by germplasm availability and a reliance on Sauvignon Blanc exports. To address this, we are working to generate a population of 12,000 individuals with unique genetic traits, from which to select future clones for major export varieties. Sauvignon Blanc plantlets are being regenerated from embryogenic callus, using an approach designed to mobilise endogenous transposable elements as mutagens.

Does a white wine smell like red wine if you color it with red food coloring? A study by Morrot, Brochet, and Dubourdieu (2001, Brain and Language) suggests so. Subjects perceived red wine odors when tasting white wine that had been colored red. The perceived odor profile of the colored white wine became similar to that of a red wine. However, the forced-choice procedure used by Morrot et al. has some methodological shortcomings. Here, we used an alternative method (a rating procedure) to evaluate the presented wines.

Oral tribology receives growing attention in the field of food sciences as it offers great opportunities to establish correlations between physical parameters, such as the coefficient of friction, and sensory perceptions in the human mouth.

The positive contribution of toasted vine-shoots (SEGs, Shoot from vines – Enological – Granule) used in winemaking to the chemical and sensory profile of wines has been widely proven. However, the combination of this new enological tool with other winemaking technologies, such as micro-oxygenation (MOX), has not been studied so far. It is known that micro-oxygenation is used in wineries to stabilizes color, improves structure or combining with oak alternatives products to achieve a more effective aroma integration of wines. For that, its implementation in combination with SEGs could result in differentiated wines.

The climatic component is one of the elements of the zoning of viticultural potential, alongside the geological and pedological components (Morlat, 1989; Lebon et al , 1993). Many climatic indices have thus been defined to estimate the potential for wine production at the scale of a region or a country (Carbonneau et al ., 1992). The main climatic variables used are temperature and radiation. We note in particular the indices of Branas, Huglin and Ribereau-Gayon (Huglin, 1986). However, few studies have been undertaken on the spatial variability of microclimatic conditions at the scale of a vineyard, a valley, or even a municipality.